EDW dominates 2nd half for win versus CCHS

E.D. White used its strong run game to turn a 14-6 halftime lead into a 32-6 rout against the Central Catholic in nondistrict action Thursday.
The Cardinals, who churned out 226 yards on the ground on 52 carries, had the ball for nearly the entire third quarter and for the first part of the fourth, ballooning their lead out to a 32-6 advantage.
While the Cardinals ran more than 20 plays in the third quarter — including a 12-play scoring drive to begin the period — the Eagles were limited to just four plays in the third quarter.
Three of those were passing plays, while the Eagles punted on fourth down.
Central Catholic was held to just two yards in the quarter and eight total yards in the second half.
The Eagles’ first possession of the fourth quarter ended when Brennan Eschette intercepted Blake Byrne to set up E.D. White’s final score.
Central Catholic couldn’t maintain possession on the ensuing kickoff as Samarick Paul fumbled at the end of the return, and E.D. White recovered.
Central Catholic’s longest drive of the half came near the game’s conclusion when the Eagles, after being forced to punt after three plays, recovered a fumble when E.D. White muffed the punt.
However, the Eagles were forced to turn the ball over after four more plays.
“We played well in the second half,” E.D. White coach Chris Bergeron said. “I wasn’t real pleased with the way we played in the first half. We came out flat, no emotion, no intensity and … it was a ballgame in the first half. But in the second half, we put some drives together. We scored some points, we got some key fourth-down conversions and we played really good defense in the second half.”
Late in the game, the Eagles’ also lost Stefano Guarisco, who had to be helped off the field after an injury.
E.D. White, who received the ball to begin the second half, took a 12-play drive down the field — all on the ground — including a heavy dose of big fullback Darius Charles.
The drive concluded with a 1-yard run by quarterback Conner Chiasson. Hunter Tabor completed a two-point pass to Andrew Hebert to extend the lead to 22-6 with 5:41 remaining in the third quarter.
After the Eagles netted just two total yards on its next drive via a reception by Matthew Barbier from Byrne, Barbier punted back to the Cardinals.
From there, the Lafourche-based school ran out the third quarter clock and almost a minute into the fourth on another lengthy drive that featured just one pass play.
While the Eagles held the Cardinals out of the end zone, the Cardinal were able to get points out of the drive when Winston Jones connected on a 27-yard field goal with 11:19 remaining for a 25-6 lead.
The Eagles’ initial drive of the fourth quarter ended with Eschette’s third-down interception, which he returned to the Central Catholic 9-yard line.
Three plays later, Chiasson connected with Nic Shanklin for an 8-yard touchdown and a 32-6 lead with 8:44 remaining in the game.
“They were hard to get off the field … We didn’t help our defense out,” Central Catholic coach Tommy Minton said. “We didn’t get first downs.”
While Charles led the Cardinals’ ground game with 17 carries for 91 yards and a score, early on teammate Jeremy Rounds proved to be more of a thorn in the Eagles’ side.
Round picked off Byrne on the Eagles’ first drive.
On the Cardinals’ second drive, he scampered 54 yards for an E.D. White touchdown and a 7-0 Cardinals’ lead with 4:44 remaining in the first quarter.
Rounds finished the contest with nine carries for 67 yards and a score.
After the Eagles’ gained a first down on their next drive, they were forced to punt.
Again, Rounds made his mark as he returned the punt 50 yards to the Central Catholic 18 yard line.
“Jeremy’s our go-to guy sometimes,” Bergeron said. “Jeremy just always comes up and makes a play when we need it.”
Two plays after Rounds’ kick return, Charles punched the ball in to the end zone from 7 yards out for a 14-0 E.D. White lead with 1:24 remaining.
Central Catholic had its longest drive — play wise — of the game on the ensuing possession, moving from its own 29-yard line to the E.D. White 46 yard line.
However, the drive stalled at the E.D. White 46.
Central Catholic kept E.D. White off the scoreboard the remainder of the first half and got itself back in the game late in the first half.
On second down at the Central Catholic 49, Guarisco caught a pass from Byrne and turned it into a 49-yard reception down to the Eagles’ 2-yard line with 15 seconds remaining.
On the next play, Guarisco scored on a 2-yard run. Barbier’s extra point was no good, but the Eagles had cut its deficit to 14-6 with 10 seconds left in the half.
“We thought we had a little momentum right there,” Minton said. “We thought if we could have got a stop, got the ball back but …. we didn’t.”
Guarisco led the Eagles with 13 carries for 29 yards and a touchdown. He also led the Eagles’ receivers with two catches for 55 yards, while Paul had four catches for 29 yards.
Offensively, the Eagles were limited to just 115 total yards, including 16 rushing yards on 18 attempts and one score.
Through the air, quarterback Blake Byrne completed 9 of 21 passes for 99 yards with two interceptions.
Central Catholic (2-1) will return to action next Thursday when it opens District 7-1A play against Highland Baptist.
E.D. White (3-0) will return to action on Sept. 26 when it hosts Catholic High-New Iberia.
Additional reporting by www.bayoupreps.com