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Berwick High School held its 2019 Fall Athletics Awards ceremony Monday night at the Berwick Civic Complex.
Coaches on hand to present awards and lettermen honors were Berwick Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Mike Walker, Volleyball Coach Megan Fegenbush, Swim Coach B.J. Castaneda and Cross Country Coach Camille Izaguirre.
Izaguirre started off the evening with awards presented to senior Brett Dupuis and Nathan Meyers.
Selected as the cross country most valuable player was Darby Frickey. The most improved award went to James Decondris.
Swim team awards included seniors Luke Orlando and Rustin Scarbrough. MVP was presented to Clay Menard, James Klien and Grace Campbell.
Castaneda awarded high point honors to Scarbrough and Samantha Kinchen while the Panther Pride awards were given to Carson Leblanc and Kyleigh Arceneaux. The coach’s award was presented to Orlando and Randi Joubert. Academic All State honors were given to Orlando and Scarbrough.
Earning Bayou League All-District were Scarbrough, Campbell, Zachary Campbell, Kinchen and Leblanc. Southwest Acadiana League 3A District honorees were Orlando, Grace Campbell and Kinchen.
Fegenbush gave senior awards to Ryleigh Arnold, Laney Crouch, Emily Lousteau, Natalie Kinchen and Katelyn Richard.
Taking honors for the Most Aces was Giuliana Spitale (27), Most Kills was Crouch (53), Most Blocks was Arnold (59), Most Digs was Ashlynn Fitter (166) and Most Assists was Lousteau (126). Fitter earned Second Team All District honors while Arnold and Lousteau received honorable mention.
Walker finished out the night with football awards to seniors Reed Gonzales, Parker Bran, Dylan Cothron, Keyon Singleton, Seth Canty, Bailey Thibodeaux, Donte Short, Landon Harris, Isaiaah Williams, Noah Alhayek, George Boston and Hayden Seneca.
Earning First Team All District honors were Singleton, Alhayek and Seneca while placing on Second Team were Canty and Dale Turner. Honorable mention went to Zane Soileau, Boston, Gonzales and Harris.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Drew Brees trotted along the sideline holding his helmet and a Hall of Fame-bound ball in his left hand while using his right hand to wave and blow kisses to an adoring Superdome crowd.
Another milestone, another memory, for an undersized and once underestimated player who has broken just about every significant record a quarterback can break — and doesn’t look anywhere near done at age 40.
Brees became the NFL’s all-time leader in touchdown passes, throwing for four scores to lead the New Orleans Saints to a 34-7 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Monday night.
“It was special, everything about the night,” Brees said. “It just kind of makes your whole life and career flash before your eyes, because I never thought I’d have a chance to be part of something like this.”
The scoring strike that broke Peyton Manning’s record of 539 career touchdown passes came in the third quarter, when Brees hit tight end Josh Hill for a 5-yard score. Brees’ next pass in the game was the 541st scoring toss of his career, a 28-yarder to reserve QB and utility player Taysom Hill that put the Saints up 34-0.
“He’s done that to a lot of defenses,” Colts coach Frank Reich said. “When he gets like that. I don’t know that anybody can stop him.”
Now in his 19th season, the 6-foot Brees — a 2001 second-round draft choice — came into the game already holding NFL records for completions with 6,792 and yards passing with 72,577. He built on those numbers while also setting a record for completion percentage in a game. He completed 29 of 30 passes — 96.7% — for 307 yards before being relieved by Teddy Bridgewater in the fourth quarter. That broke the mark Philip Rivers had held since completing 28 of 29 (96.6%) against Arizona last season.
“He had a hot hand, obviously,” Saints coach Sean Payton said. “Guys were making plays, but that’s awfully difficult to do.”
The victory kept the Saints (11-3), who’d already won the NFC South, in the running with Seattle (11-3), San Francisco (11-3) and Green Bay (11-3) for one of the top two seeds in the NFC playoffs.
“There’s a lot at stake right now relative to these games when you look at the top of the NFC,” Payton said. “It’s about winning and winning and winning and trying to give yourself the best chance in the postseason.”
The Colts (6-8) were eliminated from playoff contention after losing their fourth straight and sixth out of seven.
They were also left struggled to explain their lack of competitiveness in a game they needed to win.
“I wish I knew all the answers,” Colts linebacker Darius Leonard said. “I hate losing more than I love winning.”
Jacoby Brissett struggled at times with accuracy and finished 18 of 34 for 165 yards against a Saints defense looking for redemption after allowing 48 points in a loss to the 49ers a week earlier.
Meanwhile, Colts defenders had no answer for Michael Thomas, who caught 12 passes for 128 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown. Thomas’ eighth game this season with at least 10 catches give him 133 for the season, which is also the fourth-highest single-season total in NFL history.
With four more catches, Thomas will pass Antonio Brown and Julio Jones for second most in a season. He needs 11 to eclipse Marvin Harrison’s record of 143 from 2002.
Tre’Quan Smith caught a 21-yard touchdown pass for New Orleans.
Jordan Wilkins scored the Colts’ lone TD on a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter.
FLUID RECORD
While Brees holds the career touchdown pass record for now, the Patriots’ Tom Brady is only three behind at 538.
“It’s a fluid record,” Payton said. “There’s still another quarterback in New England, so that will go back and forth as long as those two are playing.”
The next-closest active player is Rivers with 395.
Brees wasn’t about to underestimate Brady’s ability to keep pace.
“He’s such a stud. He’s got a lot of rings and records,” Brees said of Brady. “He’s awesome.”
HAILING HILL
Brees said the ball with which he threw his record-breaking TD would go to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and also sounded particularly pleased by who caught it.
“I love the fact it was Josh Hill,” Brees said, noting that Hill made the team as an undrafted rookie in 2013 and has been reliable both on offense and special teams ever since.
“The epitome of a great teammate, kind of an unsung hero,” Brees said.
“He’s done an unbelievable job. I have so much trust and confidence in him.”
INJURIES
Colts: Reserve safety Rolan Milligan left the game with a foot injury in the first half. Cornerback Quincy Wilson left with a shoulder injury.
Saints: Right guard Larry Warford needed help to the sideline with a left knee injury early in the third quarter. Defensive back C.J. Gardner Johnson left the game with a concussion in the fourth quarter.
UP NEXT
Colts: Host Carolina on Sunday.
Saints: Visit Tennessee on Sunday.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Hallmark Channel, reversing what it called a “wrong decision,” said Sunday it will reinstate commercials featuring same-sex couples that it had pulled following a complaint from a conservative group.
The earlier decision by Crown Media, Hall-mark’s parent company, to pull several ads for the wedding planning site Zola featuring two brides kissing at the altar had launched a storm of protest. Celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres and William Shatner criticized the move and the hashtag #BoycottHall markChannel was trending on Twitter at one point.
“The Crown Media team has been agonizing over this decision as we’ve seen the hurt it has unintentionally caused,” said a statement issued Sunday evening by Hallmark Cards CEO Mike Perry. “Said simply, they believe this was the wrong decision. ... We are truly sorry for the hurt and disappointment this has caused.”
Zola, the wedding planning site that made the ads, said it was relieved that the decision to pull them had been reversed. In an email to The Associated Press, the company said it would be in touch with Hallmark “regarding a potential return to advertising.”
“We are humbled by everyone who showed support not only for Zola, but for all LGBTQ couples and families who express their love on their wedding day, and every day,” said a statement Sunday evening from the company’s chief marketing officer, Mike Chi.
The controversy erupted during one of the Hallmark Channel’s busiest seasons, when its slate of holiday programming turns it into one of television’s most-watched networks. Between Dec. 2-8, Hallmark was the No. 3 network in prime-time viewership, behind Fox News and ESPN.
The LGBT advocacy group GLAAD also expressed relief at the reversal. Its president and CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis, said Hallmark’s “decision to correct its mistake sends an important message to LGBTQ people and represents a major loss for fringe organizations like One Million Moms, whose sole purpose is to hurt families like mine.”
It was a complaint by One Million Moms, part of the American Family Association, that had led to the initial decision to pull the the Zola ads. A post on the group’s website Saturday said that Crown Media CEO Bill Abbott had spoken by telephone with the group and “reported the advertisement aired in error.” It also said: “The call to our office gave us the opportunity to confirm the Hallmark Channel will continue to be a safe and family-friendly network.” The group had not commented on the reversal as of late Sunday night.
Zola had submitted six ads, with four including a lesbian couple. After Hallmark pulled those ads, but not two featuring only opposite-sex couples, Zola withdrew its remaining ads.
Molly Biwer, senior vice president for public affairs at Hallmark, said in an interview Sunday night that from the time the initial decision had been made, “Crown Media had been in agony over the hurt that this had caused. Hallmark has an unwavering commitment to diversity and inclusion.”
She added that the reversal, and not the original decision, “truly reflects who we are as a company. We celebrate all families.”
Hallmark’s statement said the network will be “working with GLAAD to better represent the LGBTQ community” and would be reaching out to Zola to reestablish its partnership.
“Across our brand, we will continue to look for ways to be more inclusive and celebrate our differences,” Perry said.
In one of the pulled ads, two brides stand at the altar and wonder aloud whether their wedding would be going more smoothly if they had used a planning site like Zola. The lighthearted ad ends with the just-married couple sharing a quick kiss.
DeGeneres had quickly assailed the original decision, asking on Twitter: “Isn’t it almost 2020?” Actress Sandra Bernhard, who played one of the first openly bisexual characters on network TV in “Roseanne,” had also criticized the move.
“All the groovy gay ladies i know won’t be watching your Christmas schlock,” she wrote on Twitter.
The Hallmark decision was also mocked on “Saturday Night Live,” and Netflix US tweeted stills from a TV show and movie that it labeled “Titles Featuring Lesbians Joyfully Existing And Also It’s Christmas Can We Just Let People Love Who They Love.”

A Morgan City man was arrested in Thibodaux in connection with an armed robbery in Bayou Vista, St. Mary Parish Sheriff Blaise Smith announced in a press release.
Timothy Paul Francis, 32, of Federal Avenue in Morgan City, was arrested at 2:49 a.m. Friday on charges of armed robbery with a weapon.
Smith advised that at 8:44 p.m. Dec 4, deputies responded to a call to a robbery at a business in Bayou Vista.
A man entered the business with a firearm and demanded cash. The robber fled with an undetermined amount of cash.
Through the investigation, Timothy Francis of Morgan City was developed as the suspect. A warrant was obtained for his arrest.
On Saturday morning, with the assistance of the Morgan City Police Department, a search warrant was executed at a residence on Leona Street in Morgan City and further investigation led to the possible location of Francis in the Thibodaux area.
Francis was located a short time later by the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office and taken into custody on the active warrant through the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office. He was jailed with bail set at $100,000.
Smith commended the Investigations Division of the St. Mary Parish Office for their hard work and success in this case.
He also thanked the Morgan City Police Department and the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office for their assistance in this case.