Central Catholic holds off Vermilion Catholic (updated)

Central Catholic held off a last-ditch effort for a touchdown by Vermilion Catholic for a 20-13 victory at the Iron Man Jamboree at Teurlings Catholic Thursday.
With the ball at the Central Catholic 42-yard line and nine seconds on the clock, Vermilion Catholic quarterback J.T. Lege completed a 21-yard pass to the Central Catholic 21 with 2 seconds left.
While Vermilion Catholic was penalized on first down, Central Catholic’s Samarick Paul intercepted Lege on second down after time expired to preserve the win.
“It’s the first live action for special teams, and of course, you saw some mistakes,” Central Catholic Coach Tommy Minton said. “It’s the first time we go under the lights, so it’s always all those firsts that hopefully we would’ve wanted to get out of the way in the scrimmage, again, but I thought the kids played hard. I thought our conditioning was pretty good, and I thought all-in-all, we showed a lot of positive signs. A lot of things we need to work on.”
Central Catholic took the lead after halftime as the Eagles scored a touchdown with 6:54 remaining in the second half on a Chris Singleton 4-yard run. Drake Angeron’s extra point was good for the final margin.
Singleton and teammate Bailey Badeaux combined for 17 carries for 100 yards and two touchdowns.
In the first half, Vermilion Catholic took a 7-0 lead with 6:46 remaining after Lege connected with Gage Broussard on an 8-yard score on a pass that first was deflected by ULL commitment Jalen Johnson of Central Catholic. The extra point gave Vermilion Catholic a 7-0 lead.
Lege finished the game completing 8 of 18 passes for 163 yards and one touchdown. He also threw two interceptions. Paul had one interception and DeDe Gant, the other.
Central Catholic followed the Vermilion Catholic score with one of its own on a drive capped by a Singleton 2-yard run with 3:21 remaining in the half. Angeron’s extra point tied the score at 7.
Vermilion Catholic didn’t take long to counter as Garrett Wiggins returned the ensuing kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown with 3:06 remaining. The extra point was no good for a 13-7 Vermilion Catholic lead.
Central Catholic responded late in the half when Johnson held on for a nice catch from quarterback Blake Byrne on a fade route while Johnson was falling in the end zone with 36 seconds left. The extra point was no good, and the teams went into halftime tied at 13.
Byrne completed 7 of 13 passes for 133 yards and one touchdown. He completed passes to five different receivers and all but one of his passes were good for first-down yardage.
Central Catholic will return to action Thursday when it opens the season at home against St. John of Plaquemine in a 7 p.m. contest.