Central Catholic defeats Grambling, 60-38

Central Catholic broke open a close game in the first quarter and held off a late surge by Grambling late in the game for a 60-38 victory in first-round Division IV playoff action Friday in Morgan City.
Central Catholic appeared headed for an easy victory after breaking open a 14-all tie late in the first quarter. Central Catholic extended its lead to as much as 30 points, at 52-22 early on a Stefano Guarisco 89-yard run with 3:18 remaining in the third quarter. Grambling cut its deficit to 52-38 early in the fourth.
Grambling scored a touchdown via a 58-yard pass from Shawn Brantley to Enrico Hayes with 1:05 remaining in the third quarter.
After recovering a Central Catholic fumble on the ensuing possession, Brantley scored on an eight-yard run and Austin Andrews added a two-point run to cut the Kittens’ deficit to 14 with 11:06 remaining in the ballgame.
However, Central Catholic (10-1) added a late touchdown with 5:55 remaining and stopped Grambling on its last possession at the Central Catholic 6, enabling them to run out the clock and preserve the victory.
“We relaxed a little bit,” Central Catholic coach Tommy Minton said. “We shouldn’t have, but (it) was one of those deals where I thought we started the game with a lot of intensity. I thought we played hard. We did some things different offensively that kind of had them off-balance, I think. I think overall, it was a good team effort.”
But regardless of what happened, the team is moving on to the next round where it will host No. 6 Southern Lab Friday in a 7 p.m. contest. Southern Lab advanced after routing No. 11 St. John 49-14 in other first-round action Friday.
In Central Catholic’s win Friday, Guarisco led the squad with 24 carries for 285 yards rushing and three touchdowns, while he also caught a 15-yard touchdown pass. He returned a kickoff 82 yards for a touchdown, too.
The first quarter was a back-and-forth and high scoring as Guarisco took the second handoff of the game for Central Catholic and raced 67 yards for a touchdown. His two-point conversion attempt failed, but Central Catholic led 6-0 with 9:50 remaining in the first quarter.
Grambling responded on its second drive with a 10-play, 75-yard drive that concluded with a 15-yard run by Hayes. Quarterback Brantley’s two-point run was good for an 8-6 Grambling lead with 5 minutes left.
Central Catholic responded on its next drive with a Bailey Badeaux 27-yard run and Guarisco two-point run with 4:18 remaining for a 14-8 Central Catholic lead.
Grambling came back as Jerome Hudson, who led the team with 13 carries for 77 yards, countered with a 15-yard run with 1:48 remaining. A failed two-point run by Austin Andrews with 1:48 remaining kept the game tied at 14.
However, things soon began to change as the Eagles got things going on special teams and offense, while Grambling stalled on offense.
After the Grambling touchdown, Guarisco returned the ensuing kickoff 82 yards for a touchdown with 1:35 remaining in the first quarter, while Central Catholic added another touchdown on its next two possessions via a Blake Byrne 10-yard pass to Jalen Johnson with 5:30 remaining in the first half and a Damarcus Mitchell 15-yard pass to Guarisco with 1:32 remaining. Mitchell’s run following the touchdown gave Central Catholic a 38-14 lead with 1:32 remaining in the half.
Grambling could not reach the end zone the remainder of the half.
“I thought that was big,” Minton said of his team jumping out to a big lead, beginning with Guarisco’s touchdown run. “That kind of put some pressure on them and got them out of doing what they really wanted to do offensively.”
Central Catholic scored on its first possession of the third quarter via a Badeaux two-yard run for a 44-14 lead with 9:55 remaining in the quarter.
While Grambling, after failing to score on three previous possessions after tying the game at 14, cut its deficit to 44-22 on a 21-yard pass from Brantley to Archie Amos with 3:48 left in the third quarter and a two-point run by Hudson, Central Catholic struck back quickly on Guarisco’s 89-yard run and Byrne’s two-point pass to Tanner Wiggins for a 52-22 Central Catholic lead with 3:18 remaining in the third quarter.
Grambling (6-5) would make a run with two more touchdowns via a Hayes 58-yard reception from Brantley with 1:05 remaining in the third and a Brantley eight-yard run and Andrews’ two-point run with 11:06 remaining in the ball game to cut its deficit to 52-38.
However, the Kittens could get no closer, and Central Catholic added another touchdown with 5:55 remaining on a Guarisco 13-yard run for the final margin.
Brantley completed 8-of-25 passes for 158 yards and three touchdowns for the Kittens. He also rushed nine times for 24 yards and a score.
Hayes had three catches for 73 yards and a touchdown. He also had three carries for 30 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown run. Amos had four catches for 70 yards and a touchdown.

CCHS GHS
First Downs 17 18
Yards Rushing 348 132
Yards Passing 25 158
Total Yards 373 290
Passes (C-A-HI) 4-2-0 25-8-0
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 3-2

Score by Quarters
CCHS 22 16 14 8 — 60
GHS 14 0 16 8 — 38

Scoring Summary
First Quarter
CCHS: Stefano Guarisco 67-yd. run. (Run failed) 9:50
GHS: Enrico Hayes 15-yd. run. (Shawn Brantley run) 5:00
CCHS: Bailey Badeaux 27-yd. run. (Guarisco run) 4:18
GHS: Jerome Hudson 15-yd. run (Run failed) 1:48
CCHS: Guarisco 82-yd. kickoff return. (Damarcus Mitchell run) 1:35

Second Quarter
CCHS: Blake Byrne 10-yd. pass to Jalen Johnson. (Byrne pass to Guarisco) 5:30
CCHS: Mitchell 15-yd. pass to Guarisco. (Mitchell run) 1:32

Third Quarter
CCHS: Badeaux 2-yd. run (Run failed) 9:55
GHS: Brantley 21-yd. pass to Archie Amos (Hudson run) 3:48
CCHS: Guarisco 89-yd. run (Byrne pass to Tanner Wiggins) 3:18
GHS: Brantley 58-yd. pass to Enrico Hayes. (Brantley run) 1:05

Fourth Quarter
GHS: Brantley 8-yd. run. (Austin Andrews run) 11:06
GHS: Jerome Hudson 13-yd. run (Brantley pass to Timyreon Roberson) 5:55

CCHS Individual Stats
Rushing
Stefano Guarisco, 24-285 yds., 3 TDs; Bailey Badeaux, 8-61 yds., 2 TDs; Sydney Holder, 1-8 yds.; Team, 1-5 yds.; Damarcus Mitchell, 1-2 yds.; Blake Byrne, 4-(-13) yds.

Passing
Blake Byrne, 1-3-0, 10 yds., 1 TD; Damarcus Mitchell, 1-1-0, 15 yds., 1 TD

Receiving
Stefano Guarisco, 1-15 yds., 1 TD; Jalen Johnson, 1-10 yds., 1 TD