Eagles will host E.D. White Thursday

Central Catholic High School will continue its tour of higher-classification non-district opponents when it hosts Class 3A E.D. White Friday.
The matchup will be not only a matchup of first-year head coaches in Central Catholic’s Tommy Minton and E.D. White’s Chris Bergeron, it also will be a matchup of unbeaten as the Eagles and the Cardinals both enter this week’s contest with unblemished records.
Central Catholic upset a ranked Class 2A Loreauville squad to begin the season before holding off Lusher Charter last week.
E.D. White has wins against Vandebilt Catholic and St. James to begin the season.
Central Catholic head coach Tommy Minton, who faced E.D. White multiple times during his years at Patterson High, said that E.D. White is traditionally physical on the offensive and defensive lines and has had a strong running game.
The Cardinals, who are averaging 249.5 rushing yards in their first two games, are led on offense by fullback Darius Charles, who Minton said weighs about 220 pounds and Jeremy Rounds.
Rounds has rushed 24 times for 148 yards, while Charles has carried 34 times for 144 yards and three touchdowns.
The Cardinals also have a mobile quarterback in Benjamin Sposito, who in addition to passing for 144 yards this season, has rushed for 140 yards and a touchdown.
A week ago, Charles rushed for 85 yards on 19 carries and one score, while Rounds had 11 carries for 64 yards.
Sposito completed 3 of 3 passes for 53 yards and rushed for 73 yards and a score.
“When you look at them, they’re pretty balanced with their numbers. … They’re all going to get their touches and they’ve all been effective early in the year,” Minton said of the trio’s role in E.D. White’s “wing-T type” offense.
On defense, the Cardinals utilize a four-man front with zone coverage.
“Defensively, they’re very solid. The thing that sticks out to you is they tackle well. We’re going to try to spread the field and try to get some matchups in space is going to be our best bet. They’re just a hardnosed team that plays together and plays hard.”
The Eagles enter Thursday’s contest led offensively by Stefano Guarisco, who has rushed 60 times for 317 yards and six touchdowns in two games. He also leads the Eagles’ receivers with five catches for 91 yards and two scores.
Other top receivers for Central Catholic include Jalen Johnson, who has caught six passes for 82 yards, and Matthew Barbier, who has reeled in five passes for 75 yards and one score.
Central Catholic quarterback Blake Byrne has completed 24 of 50 passes for 322 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions this season.
In last week’s win, the Eagles held on to beat Lusher after the Lions had rallied to cut their deficit, at one point, to 35-33.
The Lions attempted a 41-yard field goal with less than 30 seconds remaining in the contest for the lead, but the attempt fell short allowing the Eagles to secure the win.
“I thought we did a good job of holding together when we lost some kids through injury, an ejection and things like that,” Minton said. “We could have folded our tent but we didn’t. The kids kind of hung together and did what we asked them to do, and I think that’s why we were able to hold on and get the win.”
While Minton said the Eagles lost freshmen Cooper LeBlanc and Chris Singleton to injuries in the game against the bigger and physical Lusher squad and the duo won’t play this week, he said the team as a whole is fine and responded well in practice this week.
“It’s been a very, very good week of practice I feel like both mentally and physically,” Minton said.
Additional reporting by www.bayoupreps.com.