CCHS tops Hanson Memorial, 42-14

Hanson Memorial set the tone early in Thursday’s District 8-1A contest with Central Catholic, jumping out to leads on two occasions.
But after Hanson (2-4 overall, 0-2 in district) turned the ball over with the game tied at 14 in the second quarter, the contest slowly started to slip away from the Tigers as they eventually fell 42-14.
Collin Faucheaux, who had thrown two first-half touchdown passes, the second of which went to Micah Evans at the 9:53 mark of the second period for a 14-7 Hanson advantage, was picked off by Central Catholic’s Khyre Willis later in the second quarter.
Central Catholic (3-3, 2-0) converted the interception into points on a Davidyione Bias 3-yard run with 3:32 remaining for a 21-14 lead. Central Catholic never trailed again.
“We executed pretty well early on, but after the interception, we just never could find ourselves offensively,” Hanson Memorial Coach Chris Sanders said. “We lost a little bit of confidence. We started getting a little bit hesitant, not quite as sure.”
Central Catholic Coach Tommy Minton was not happy about how his team approached the game.
“We told them all week how hard (Eugene Foulcard) ran the football,” Minton said. “We told them all week how hard that team played even though they got only 24 kids, and the thing is we have to respect the game more than that and we have to approach each game with a better frame of mind.
“I give Hanson a lot of credit,” Minton added. “They came in. They played hard. They had a good game plan, and it took us a quarter to match their intensity.”
After Central Catholic took the lead for good on Bias’ touchdown, the Eagles added another score late in the first half, moving the ball 80 yards in 10 plays after taking over with less than 1:24 remaining in the half. The drive was capped by Ryan Miller’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Grant Stansbury with 3.8 seconds remaining in the half. Adlai Urbina, who was 4-for-4 on point-after attempts, converted the extra point for a 28-14 Central Catholic lead.
“That’s the first time we’ve really had to work two-minute (offense) all year,” Minton said. “We practice it all the time, and the kids did a good job of responding to it. We worked the sidelines, got out of bounds, didn’t have to waste timeouts, and we were able to get points out of it.”
After halftime, the teams played a scoreless third quarter before Central Catholic scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns via a Bias 55-yard run with 7:09 remaining in the game and another with 2:30 remaining on Hugh Hamer’s 40-yard run. Brett Morell made extra points for Central Catholic after both touchdowns.
Hanson’s offense took a hit in the second half as its leading receiver in the game, Braden Loustalot, was not at full strength for part of the second half.
“We don’t have a ton of guys with breakaway type of speed,” Sanders said. “He’s the closest guy we have to that, and after he tweaked his ankle a little bit and wasn’t 100 percent, that really kind of narrows the scope of plays that we can call that we feel good about gaining chunks of yards.”
Loustalot caught four passes for 60 yards in the first half, but neither he nor any of the Tigers’ other receivers caught passes in the second half.
For the game, Faucheaux completed 9 of 21 passes for 90 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Central Catholic totaled 359 yards of offense (259 rushing and 100 passing), while Hanson had 139 yards of offense (49 rushing and 90 passing).
Early on, Hanson was forced to punt after three plays to begin the game. However, Central Catholic muffed the punt, and Hanson retained possession at the Eagles’ 47-yard line.
Hanson cashed in on the second chance as nine plays later, Faucheaux connected with Lawson St. Blanc on a 4-yard touchdown completion with 5:19 remaining in the first quarter. St. Blanc, who also is the Tigers’ point-after kicker, converted the attempt for a 7-0 Hanson lead.
Central Catholic responded immediately as Bias fielded the ensuing kickoff and returned it 83 yards for a touchdown, and the Eagles tied the score at 7 after Urbina’s point-after attempt.
Central Catholic recovered a Hanson fumble on the Tigers’ next drive at the Central Catholic 32, but on the next play, Bias fumbled the ball after a two-yard gain, giving it back to the Tigers. That was the lone offensive play the Eagles ran in the first quarter.
With the turnover, the Tigers again capitalized as four plays into the second quarter, Faucheaux connected with Micah Evans on a 9-yard touchdown pass. While St. Blanc missed the extra-point attempt, the Eagles were penalized on the play, and St. Blanc was allowed to rekick. He made the second attempt for a 14-7 Hanson lead with 9:53 remaining in the first half.
Central Catholic scored on its next drive when Miller connected with Nathan Hebb for a 20-yard touchdown with 6:47 remaining in the half. Urbina’s extra point tied the game at 14.