Central Catholic looks for second straight win

Week six of the Tri-City area football season will kick off with one Thursday night contest and three Friday night games, including the area’s final homecoming.
Central Catholic and Covenant Christian will begin the area’s action with a 7 p.m. contest Thursday at Nicholls State’s John L. Guidry Stadium in a District 8-1A contest.
Friday, Morgan City will celebrate homecoming with a District 8-4A contest against South Lafourche, while Berwick will host St. James in District 9-3A action. Patterson will hit the road to face Donaldsonville in District 9-3A action.
Below are previews of the action.
CCHS vs. CCA
Central Catholic will look to win its second straight contest when it travels to Thibodaux to face Covenant Christian Academy.
A week ago, the Eagles (1-3) defeated Hanson Memorial 50-36 in Franklin, while Covenant Christian (0-5) fell to Centerville 46-0 in Centerville.
With a new coach this year, Covenant Christian has switched from a Wing T to a spread offense.
Central Catholic coach Tommy Minton said the Lions will use a lot of four wide receiver sets or an H-back and three wide receivers.
“But they try to operate with spread principles,” he said.
The team is led by quarterback Connor Matherne and wide receivers Malachi Ayo and Zakyrus Gordon.
Minton said that in addition to getting the football to his receivers, Matherne is a running threat that is hard to tackle.
On defense, the Lions will utilize a 4-2-5 look and will play mainly zone defense.
“Every now and then they’ll jump into some man (coverage) and bring some pressure, but mainly they’re going to play zone defense,” Minton said.
Morgan City vs.
South Lafourche
Morgan City will celebrate homecoming Friday as it welcomes South Lafourche to Tiger Stadium.
The Tigers (0-5) enter this week’s matchup after falling to Assumption 44-0 a week ago, while South Lafourche (2-3) defeated South Terrebonne 47-40.
“They have a very high-powered offense,” Morgan City coach Chris Stroud said of the Tarpons.
They have playmakers, including their quarterback and tight end, he said.
“They put up 47 vs a good South Terrebonne squad,” Stroud said.
Defensively, Stroud said the Tarpons are physical.
“It will be another tough district matchup for our young squad,” he said of this week’s opponent.
Berwick vs.
St. James
Berwick will host highly-regarded St. James Friday in a district matchup in Berwick.
Both teams are coming off a loss a week ago as Berwick (1-4) fell to Lutcher 49-13, and St. James (3-2) was upset by Donaldsonville 50-28.
“They are tremendously talented on both sides of the ball, very athletic, very explosive on both sides of the ball,” Berwick coach Mike Walker said of St. James.
“Their offense is kind of big-play drive.”
On offense, the Wildcats feature wide receiver Shazz Preston, running back Daniel Jupiter and quarterback Marquell Bergeron.
“Dynamic” was how Walker described each of the trio.
While the Wildcats will utilize Preston for a lot of their quarterback runs, Walker said Bergeron can run along with passing.
On defense, LSU commit Savion Jones, a defensive end, is a player of note in St. James’ 3-3 stack look, Walker said.
Walker said St. James’ defense causes lots of “chaos and a lot of havoc and a lot of negative plays.”
Patterson vs.
Donaldsonville
The Patterson Lumberjacks will hit the road for the second straight week when they travel to face Donaldsonville Friday in district play.
A week ago, Patterson (2-3) fell to E.D. White 55-23, while Donaldsonville (3-2) upset St. James 50-28.
“We are excited, first and foremost, for the opportunity to rebound,” Patterson coach Zach Lochard said.
“Last week we had a tough schedule where we only had two days that we were able to practice, but this week we’re back on full schedule where we get five practices and a walk-through.”
He said Donaldsonville is athletic, talented, physical and plays well on the lines
“They’re very well-coached in all aspects — offense, defense and special teams,” Lochard said.
“We feel that we match up with them athletically, so we’re excited to implement our plan to win this week, and we feel that we’ve got a good shot to compete with this team.”
He said that defensively, the Tigers bring a lot of pressure.
“So we’ve definitely been working on our answers to the blitz,” Lochard said. “They are going to be a very attack-minded defense.”
He said the Tigers’ offense is multiple.
“They really spread the ball around adequately to where they kind of make you defend the whole field from sideline to sideline as well (as) vertically down the field,” Lochard said.