CCHS to meet Ascension Catholic today

Central Catholic and Ascension Catholic will be looking to get back on winning tracks when they meet in Donaldsonville tonight in a prep football contest set for a 7 o’clock start.
Central Catholic (1-1) fell to Class 2A Opelousas Catholic, 34-27, a week ago.
The Eagles trailed 26-7 at one point in the third quarter before rallying for a 27-26 lead in the fourth quarter.
However, Opelousas Catholic scored the game’s final touchdown with less than 5 minutes remaining for the final score.
Meanwhile, Ascension Catholic (1-1) led Class 2A Dunham, 14-0, a week ago before Dunham stormed back with 41 unanswered points for a 41-14 victory.
Central Catholic and Ascension Catholic received recognition this week by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. Central Catholic slipped a spot to No. 5 in the latest Class 1A poll, while Ascension Catholic received 15 votes.
While Central Catholic Coach Tommy Minton said some positives can be taken from last week’s loss, he also said as a coach, he naturally looks for reasons why they lost and that lies in turnovers.
“We turned it over three times in the first half,” he said. “Two out the three led to Opelousas Catholic touchdowns, and that’s an area we got to clean some things up in.”
However, despite the loss, he said he had to commend his team’s effort for rallying to put themselves in a position to win.
“The kids were down 26-7,” he said. “Didn’t give up. Came back and took the lead, and that type of effort, that type of intensity, that type of no-quit attitude will be able to carry us a long way this year I believe.”
Against Ascension Catholic, the Eagles’ attention will be on the backfield of the Bulldogs’ spread offense.
Minton said Ascension Catholic’s two running backs, sophomore Jamar Barber and freshman Jai Williams are “very, very good football players. They make a lot of people miss tackles. They run hard.”
Williams is the son of former Ascension Catholic standout Germaine Williams, who played at LSU.
“The key to stopping them (Ascension Catholic) is stopping those two running backs,” Minton said.
Barber leads the team with 30 carries for 308 yards and five touchdowns. The rushing total is the 17th-best in the state, regardless of class. Barber’s scoring total of 30 points via five touchdowns puts him in a large tie for ninth place among the state’s prep players, regardless of classification.
Barber had a 31-yard touchdown run a week ago.
Minton said the Bulldogs’ spread offense is run out of the shotgun, and “they like to attack the perimeter.”
Defensively, the Bulldogs run a 3-3 stack and use a lot of zone coverage behind it.
Minton said the Bulldogs’ defensive line has a few guys that are physical.
“I think an area that we can look to attack is their outside linebackers and their secondary (which) is a little bit young and inexperienced and doesn’t have tremendous size,” Minton said.
In last week’s loss to Opelousas Catholic, Central Catholic was led by running back Chris Singleton and quarterback Blake Byrne. Singleton rushed 17 times for 76 yards and two touchdowns. Byrne passed for 116 yards and a score and also rushed for 41 yards
Singleton leads the Eagles rushers this season with 30 carries for 161 yards and five touchdowns.
Bailey Badeaux is just behind with 28 carries for 154 yards and one touchdown.
Byrne has completed 7 of 24 pass attempts for 160 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Greg Leger leads the Eagles’ wide receivers with two receptions for 101 yards.
Additional reporting by www.theadvocate.com/sports