Eagles open district play Thursday at LCA

Central Catholic will begin District 7-1A action Thursday when it travels to face Lafayette Christian.
The Eagles enter the contest 3-0, while Lafayette Christian is 1-2.
Thursday’s contest will be both teams’ first district game of the season.
“You start district the fourth week of the season, (so) it makes for a short preseason,” Central Catholic coach Tommy Minton said. “The positive is (we) did come out of the preseason 3-0. We start district, but now everybody starts with a clean slate. I feel like we’ve done a pretty job of developing an identity on offense, and defensively, I just want to see us be more consistent. We’ve played really, really well in spurts. Played really, really well against Opelousas Catholic and then had spurts against Ascension Catholic, St. John where we hadn’t been as intense and physical where we need to be, and we just need to be more consistent there.”
Central Catholic and Lafayette Christian won a week ago as Central Catholic defeated Ascension Catholic 70-46, while Lafayette Christian picked up its first win of the season with a 38-6 victory against Ville Platte.
While Lafayette Christian features a three-year starter at quarterback in senior Regan Miller, a week ago, the Knights used freshman Zachary Clement at the position, while Miller lined up at running back. Clement completed 7 of 19 passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns, while he rushed 22 times for 100 yards and two touchdowns.
“The freshman really had a good ball game,” Minton said. “We kind of prepare for both situations. I don’t know which one will play quarterback this week, but both of them are really good athletes.”
Minton said his defense has to be prepared for option and zone read plays from Lafayette Christian’s spread offense.
This season, Clement has rushed 23 times for 101 yards and two touchdowns.
Miller enters the Central Catholic game having completed 8 of 16 passes for 129 yards with a touchdown and an interception this season. He also has rushed 26 times for 95 yards.
Bryce Badon leads the team in receiving with eight catches for 178 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensively, Lafayette Christian runs a 4-3 scheme.
“They’re kind of aggressive,” Minton said. “They like to bring some pressure. We need to be prepared for that.”
A week ago, Central Catholic churned out 404 yards of offense — 236 rushing and 168 passing.
Stefano Guarisco had 18 carries for 143 yards and two touchdowns and caught another pass for a 23-yard touchdown.
However, the Eagles got the most production to date this season from their pass game as quarterback Blake Byrne completed 6 of 7 passes for 153 yards and three touchdowns.
Greg Leger led the squad with three receptions for 101 yards and a score, while Jalen Johnson had two receptions for 37 yards and a touchdown.
“We’re trying to get more people involved, and everybody is kind of adapting to what we’re asking them to do,” Minton said of the offense. “I feel good about where we’re at right now.”
This season, Guarisco leads to the Eagles and is one of the top rushers in the state with 82 carries for 692 yards and nine touchdowns.
He also has caught four passes for 96 yards and two touchdowns.
Byrne has completed 15 of 27 passes for 281 yards with four touchdowns and one interception.
Jalen Johnson leads the team’s receivers with five catches for 116 yards and two scores, while Leger had four catches for 107 yards and one touchdown.
Defensively, though, the Eagles surrendered 374 yards of offense, including 293 rushing.
Minton said his team worked on some aspects of defense this week.
“The main thing we looked at more than anything is the first two series of the game we come out and we attack and we get after them and we get two defensive touchdowns on forced fumbles, and from that point forward, we kind of thought the game was over,” he said.
Minton said his team needs to keep “a little killer instinct” and keep attacking the other team’s offense.