Blackburn sets record in Central Catholic win; Patterson downs Berwick

Central Catholic's Damondrick Blackburn ran for more than 300 yards and set a school touchdown record Friday. Now he and his Eagle have a first-round playoff bye after a 55-0 win over Highland Baptist.

In Berwick, meanwhile, Patterson's Caylon Davis rushed for 77 yards and threw for 171 more to lead the Lumberjacks to a 30-19 win that clinched a homefield advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Central Catholic closed its regular season at 8-2. Berwick and Patterson are each 6-4.

In playoff parings announced Sunday, Patterson, seeded 11th in Non-Select Division III, will be at home in the first round next weekend against No. 22 Port Allen.

Berwick, No. 18 in the same division, will be at Jewell Sumner of Kentwood, No. 15.

Central Catholic, No. 2 in Select Division IV, will be at home the weekend of Nov. 17-19 against either St. Edmund or Opelousas Catholic. Those teams play this weekend.

In another game of local interest, Franklin. which will play at Oaklawn in the playoff first round, lost to Ascension Episcopal 41-14 Friday. Ascension Episcopal's Peyton Woodring, a Georgia commit, kicked a 60-yard field goal to set a LHSAA record.

Patterson 30,
Berwick 19

Holding on to a 23-19 lead with 7:05 left in the game, Patterson launched what would be a 12-play, 60-yard drive. It wouldn't be easy.

Along the way, the Jacks were called for grounding and two false starts.

But Josiah Jennings picked up 15 yards on four carries, and Davis gained 20 on three trips. Then, on a third-and-27, Davis hit his brother, Camron Davis, with a 41-yard pass to the Berwick 1. Jennings took the scoring plunge, Jasper Russell added the extra point, and Patterson was up by the final score with 1:45 remaining.

Davis went 14-for-23 for his 171 yards and two touchdowns. Howard Kinchen caught four of the passes for 63 yards and a 35-yard touchdown. Khylin Brooks caught three for 38 and a 26-yard score.

Jennings ran 12 times for 48 yards and a touchdown. Elijah Johnson picked up 50 yards on 12 carries, and Caylon Davis picked up his 77 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.

For Berwick, Jayden Milton rushed 18 times for 62 yards and two touchdowns. Andre Engleton got 67 yards on 10 tries.

Quarterback Cru Bella was 7-for-17 for 118 yards. He also rushed for 20 yards and a TD.

The top receiver was Nisiah Bennett, who caught three passes for 41 yards.

Bennett made an impact on both sides of the line. During one drive beginning midway through the second quarter, with Berwick trailing 8-6, Bennett brought down Camron Davis after only three yards on a pass. Then Bennett corralled Kinchen for a 4-yard loss on another pass.

He defended against a pass attempt for an incompletion.

When Berwick got the ball back, Bennett caught a 15-yard pass to help set up a 7-yard touchdown run by Milton that put Berwick up 12-8 with 48 seconds left in the first half.

But on the first series of the third quarter, Caylon Davis broke off runs of 29 and 6 yards on an eight-play drive capped by his own 4-yard TD run. The Russell kick made it 15-12.

On Patterson's first series of the third quarter, Davis hit Kinchen with the 35-yard scoring pass, and Jennings ran in the 2-point conversion for a 23-12 Lumberjack lead.

Bella made it close again with a 13-yard touchdown run, but the penalty-filled and ultimately successful 60-yard drive put the game away for Patterson.

Central Catholic 55,
Highland Baptist 0

Blackburn's 42 touchdowns are a new school record at Central Catholic, and his 301-yard rushing performance puts him over 2,000 for the year.

Blackburn scored four touchdowns, and eight of his 15 carries went for at least 14 yards each.

Quarterback Caleb O'Con hit four of his five passes for 80 yards and two touchdowns. A 17-yard pass to Vernon Singleton and a 29-yarder to Landon Lipari went for touchdowns.

Any suspense about this game's outcome was dispelled quickly. Central Catholic scored three touchdowns on its first five snaps. The scores came on runs of 56, 4 and 65 yards by
Blackburn, and Channing Rivere was 2-for-3 on extra points for a 20-0 lead.

On the next Highland Baptist series, linebacker Andrew Cavalier hit Highland's J'Von Denton on a halfback pass attempt and shook the ball loose. Central Catholic's Ja'Cori Johnson was there to pluck the ball out of the air and take it 16 yards for the touchdown. Rivere's kicked made it 27-0 at the end of the first quarter.

The Central Catholic defense held the visitors to 17 rushing yards and 31 yards passing.

Cavalier, Ethan Wiggins and Jack Lipari were all over Highland Baptist on defense. And, in one first-quarter stretch, Tylon Hollins stopped two Highland rushes for no gain, broke up a pass attempt and intercepted two passes from Blayde White.

For Central Catholic, Benjamin Case came in at quarterback late in the game and had a 10-yard pass to Drake Rock. Cash Baker spelled Blackburn at running back and picked up 23 yards on five carries.