Eagles to face CHNI at St. Thomas More

Don’t get him wrong, Central Catholic head coach Tommy Minton wants to beat Catholic High-New Iberia in Friday’s 8 p.m. contest at St. Thomas More in the Kiwanis Club of Lafayette Jamboree.
However, at this point in the preseason, the second-year Central Catholic coach also is more concerned about his team than Catholic High-New Iberia.
“I’m worried more about us improving and us shoring up the areas that we need to shore up on our team than I am who we’re playing and all that,” Minton said. “It’s about us getting ready to play our first four-quarter ball game in a week. We need to make sure we got all the pieces in the right place.”
Minton’s squad will be looking to improve upon its scrimmage performance against Covenant Christian Academy a week ago.
While the Eagles defense held Covenant Christian’s offense scoreless, the Covenant Christian defense converted two touchdowns via interception returns of Central Catholic quarterback Blake Byrne pass attempts in the live quarter. Cameron Solet returned an interception 50 yards, while Marquel Daigle returned another 45 yards, according to The Houma Courier.
Evan Dugas made both extra points for the Lions, the Courier reported.
Central Catholic’s touchdown in the live portion of the scrimmage came via a Stefano Guarisco touchdown run, while in the scripted action, neither squad’s first-team offenses scored.
However, Central Catholic’s second-team offense had two scores in the scripted portion. Quarterback Damarcus Mitchell connected with Dede Gant on a touchdown pass, while running back Chris Singleton scored on a long touchdown run.
“It’s a typical early season type situation,” Minton said when asked of an assessment of his team right now. “You worry about certain areas. Big thing is we haven’t put special teams out there and gone through all of them against a quality opponent yet, so I’m worried about where we’re at special teams wise. Offensively and defensively, it’s just about getting better in our schemes.”
Catholic High-New Iberia scrimmaged Berwick last week and scored three first-team touchdowns, while surrendering one to the Panthers’ second-team.
Catholic High, led by longtime head coach Brent Indent, who is entering his third year in charge of the Panthers, advanced to the Division IV state finals in 2014 before falling to Calvary Baptist.
“They’re a very solid program,” Minton said. “When you look at them, they went to the state title game for a reason last year. Their program has been in tact now for several years, so what they have is an established offense and defense … established systems, and they’re going to do a good job of executing those (systems).”
In addition to their Wing T offense, the Panthers run a 3-3 stack on defense.