E.D. White rolls past Berwick, 37-7

The ground-oriented E.D. White Cardinals connected on a long passing touchdown on their first offensive play of the night Friday against the Berwick High Panthers in Berwick.
Things didn’t get much better for the Panthers (3-6 overall, 1-3 in district) the rest of the evening as Berwick fell 37-7 in District 9-3A action.
E.D. White (5-4, 3-1) scored the game’s first 37 points, while Berwick’s touchdown came on the game’s last offensive play as quarterback Reed Gonzales connected with Kaeden Thomas for a 21-yard touchdown pass, and the Panthers’ Jude Vasquez connected on the point-after attempt with no time remaining.
It was a tough night for the Panthers, who totaled just 195 yards of offense (155 passing and 40 rushing).
“Their defense is good,” Berwick coach Mike Walker said. “They’ve been playing well, especially the last couple of weeks. They’ve been playing with some confidence, and they were able to load the box and get some pressure on us.”
Meanwhile, E.D. White utilized its passing game for big plays as quarterback Caulin Griggs completed 4 of 6 passes for 191 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
E.D. White’s passing game had as many touchdowns as its running attack with two apiece.
“Got some really good production from the offensive side in the air, which we’re going to have to do, and we’re going to have to get better at that as the season goes on,” E.D. White coach Kyle Lasseigne said.
On the Cardinals’ first play of the game, Griggs completed a 63-yard pass play to Connor Richard for the Cardinals’ first score with 11:43 remaining in the first quarter.
“Defensively, the first play of the game, they start off with a big play, and that definitely put us behind the eight ball,” Walker said.
Walker said because E.D. White likes to run so much, the Panthers were “keyed in on the run” early on.
E.D. White extended its lead when Trey Sternfels secured the loose ball after a blocked punt and scored with 36 seconds left in the first quarter. Landon Brignac, who was 5-for-5 on point-after attempts, extended E.D. White’s lead to 14-0.
E.D. White scored two more first-half touchdowns: a 68-yard reception by Grant Blouin from Griggs with 11:10 remaining in the second quarter and a 59-yard touchdown run by Branton Vicknair with 1:12 remaining for a 28-0 lead.
A safety with 26 seconds left in the half extended E.D. White’s lead to 30-0.
The Cardinals’ final touchdown came when Vicknair reached the end zone on a 2-yard run.
Vicknair led E.D. White’s run game with 11 carries for 106 yards and two touchdowns.
Richard was E.D. White’s top receiver with two catches for 96 yards and a score, while Blouin had one reception for 68 yards and a touchdown.
Keyon Singleton led Berwick’s run game with 14 carries for 49 yards.
Through the air, Gonzales completed 13 of 26 passes for 155 yards with one touchdown.
Singleton was his leading receiver with five catches for 59 yards, while Thomas had three catches for 30 yards and a touchdown. Zach Gonzales added two receptions for 49 yards.
While a playoff berth appears bleak, Walker hasn’t ruled out the possibility. Berwick entered last week at No. 38 in the latest unofficial Louisiana High School Athletic Association Class 3A power rankings. The top 32 teams will qualify.
“I think it’ll definitely take some luck,” he said. “We were kind of crunching some numbers kind of seeing all the possible scenarios. I think we needed to win both (these last two games) to have a legitimate chance. I don’t think 4-6 quite gets us there. That probably puts us in the 34-33 range. Close but not quite there.”