RSS Feed

Cameron Aucoin of Julia B. Maitland Elementary gets a high five from Mackenzie Artia, a helper from West St. Mary High, at Friday's St. Mary Parish Special Olympics bowling competition at Charlie's Lanes in Morgan City. The event drew 145 competitors with special educational needs. The top three finishers will go on to the Acadiana South Area Meet on Nov. 16 in Lafayette, and maybe to the state event in Baton Rouge.

The Daily Review/Bill Decker

Berwick and Central Catholic High schools each won their homecoming contests to highlight Week 9 action among Tri-City Area football teams.
Berwick (4-5 overall, 2-2 in district) defeated Abbeville 42-20, while Central Catholic (6-3, 4-1) topped Centerville (5-4, 1-4) 40-30.
In other area Week 9 action, Patterson fell at Erath 28-22, while Morgan City (2-7, 0-5) fell in Houma to Vandebilt Catholic 31-0.
Below are other scores from across the state, courtesy of The Associated Press:

Acadiana 56, LaGrange 7

Albany 28, Grant 0

Alexandria 44, Pineville 7

Amite 40, Springfield 0

Arcadia 51, Block 8

Archbishop Hannan 36, Loranger 28

Ascension Catholic 12, Kentwood 7

Baker 36, West Feliciana 6

Barbe 27, Comeaux 3

Basile 41, Grand Lake 8

Bastrop 32, West Ouachita 10

Baton Rouge Catholic 45, Dutchtown 7

Belaire 6, Glen Oaks 0

Ben Franklin 42, Ridgewood 8

Benton 29, Woodlawn (SH) 28

Bolton 25, Avoyelles 21

Breaux Bridge 38, Opelousas 28

Briarfield 34, Riverdale Academy 12

Brusly 40, Mentorship Academy 14

C.E. Byrd 28, Airline 18

Calvary Baptist Academy 27, Mansfield 16

Captain Shreve 52, Southwood 8

Cedar Creek 41, Delta Charter 20

Chalmette 36, Bonnabel 18

Church Point 44, Mamou 20

Country Day 42, Riverside Academy 20

Covenant Christian Academy 47, St. Martin's 0

Crowley 39, Port Barre 0

DeRidder 27, Buckeye 20

Delcambre 30, Jeanerette 28

Delcambre 30, Jeanerette 28, OT

Delhi 62, Tensas 6

Denham Springs 38, Central 28

Destrehan 28, Jesuit 23

E.D. White 10, Ellender 7

East Ascension 37, McKinley 0

East Beauregard 22, Vinton 21

East Feliciana 40, Baton Rouge Episcopal 30

East Iberville 22, St. John 7

East Jefferson 28, Higgins 0

East St. John 48, Thibodaux 21

Eunice 37, Northwest 14

Ferriday 59, Delhi Charter 2

Franklinton 36, Salmen 8

G.W. Carver 45, Lake Area New Tech Early College 20

General Trass (Lake Providence) 26, Beekman 13

Hahnville 24, Central Lafourche 14

Hammond 23, Covington 7

Haughton 26, Parkway 23

Haynesville 42, Homer 14

Holy Savior Menard 42, Bunkie 14

Iota 38, Pine Prairie 0

Jackson Aca., Miss. 35, Oak Forest 18

Jena 21, Caldwell Parish 20

Jennings 24, South Beauregard 20

Jonesboro-Hodge 53, Ringgold 6

Karr 33, Helen Cox 0

Kinder 49, Lake Arthur 15

Lake Charles College Prep 21, Washington-Marion 0

Lakeshore 45, Pearl River 15

Lakeside 54, D'Arbonne Woods 14

Lakeview 26, Winnfield 20

Landry/Walker 50, West Jefferson 20

Leesville 33, Tioga 23

Livonia 18, Cecilia 7

Logansport 49, LaSalle 0

Loyola College Prep 28, Rayville 20

Lutcher 44, Tara 0

Many 49, Red River 6

Marksville 25, Peabody 6

Minden 56, Bossier 6

Neville 33, Franklin Parish 6

New Iberia Catholic 58, Ascension Episcopal 35

Newman 42, Assumption 26

North Caddo 32, Montgomery 28

North DeSoto 48, Huntington 12

North Webster 37, Green Oaks 35

Northeast 44, The Church Academy 0

Northlake Christian 22, Pope John Paul II 9

Northshore 21, Ponchatoula 7

Oak Grove 48, Sicily Island 26

Oakdale 47, Pickering 28

Opelousas Catholic 55, Slaughter 6

Parkview Baptist 15, St. Michael 13

Pine 32, St. Thomas Aquinas 28

Plaquemine 42, Woodlawn (BR) 0

Port Allen 38, Capitol 6

Richwood 42, Madison 0

Rosepine 54, DeQuincy 32

Ruston 62, Natchitoches Central 32

Sacred Heart 27, Hanson Memorial 7

Saint Paul's 14, Mandeville 10

Sam Houston 56, Lafayette 14

Shreveport Northwood 48, B.T. Washington 14

Slidell 29, Fontainebleau 17

Sophie B. Wright 27, W.L. Cohen 8

South Plaquemines 38, Fisher 0

South Terrebonne 43, South Lafourche 7

Southern Lab 61, White Castle 0

St. Amant 49, Broadmoor 8

St. Charles Catholic 14, De La Salle 12

St. Edmund Catholic 49, Hamilton Christian Academy 12

St. Helena Central 20, Independence 12

St. James 49, Lusher Charter 21

St. Louis 21, Westlake 14

St. Martinville 31, Beau Chene 0

St. Thomas More 57, Carencro 15

Sterlington 31, Union Parish 20

Sulphur 28, New Iberia 7

Sumner 7, Bogalusa 6

Tallulah 48, Franklin Academy, Miss. 8

Terrebonne 49, H.L. Bourgeois 7

Teurlings Catholic 38, Northside 8

Varnado 12, Houma Christian 10

Vermilion Catholic 61, Highland Baptist 6

Vidalia 40, Mangham 14

Ville Platte 33, Ascension Christian School 13

Walker 27, Live Oak 10

West Monroe 49, Ouachita Parish 18

West St. Mary 26, Loreauville 0

Westgate 47, Rayne 30

Westminster Christian 57, North Central 38

Wossman 42, Carroll 8

Zachary 28, Scotlandville 0

MAIS Class AA

First Round=

River Oaks 35, Greenville Christian, Miss. 12

St. Joseph-Greenville, Miss. 52, Glenbrook 7

MAIS Class AAA

First Round=

Adams Christian, Miss. 30, Bowling Green 19

Central Hinds Aca., Miss. 30, Riverfield 0

Wayne Aca., Miss. 28, Silliman 20

Central Catholic High alum and former Northwestern State University standout Jermaine Jones will be inducted into the university’s N-Club Hall of Fame Saturday.
While Jones had a standout collegiate career on the gridiron and played the sport professionally, his aspirations in high school were to continue playing basketball in college, not football.
However, a pact with then recently-hired Central Catholic football Coach Tommy Minton one Saturday morning over a 50-cent strawberry snowball eventually prompted a change of heart.
Minton, who had begun his rebuilding process of turning the Eagles’ fortunes around after 11 straight years without a playoff berth, immediately recognized the talent of Jones on the basketball court.
“I saw how talented he was, and I said ‘if I’m going to have a chance to win, I got to get that kid out (for football),’” Minton said.
So one Saturday, he picked up Jones at his house, brought him to get a snowball and made a pact with him. If Jones didn’t score four touchdowns in the Eagles’ opener, he could quit.
Jones agreed.
Come the season opener, Jones scored six touchdowns and rushed for 200-plus yards, Minton said.
He finished his senior year with 1,500 rushing yards and had more than 100 tackles as a linebacker.
“He was the reason we turned it around so quick and got in the playoffs that first year for the first time in 11 years,” Minton said.
Twenty-five years later, Jones laughed at the story and said even if he wouldn’t have scored the four touchdowns in the season-opener, he would not have quit.
“Whatever I seek to start, I seek to finish,” Jones said.
The ex-All-American will be joined by fellow ex-All-American Latrell Frederick, ex-NFL standout Floyd Turner, ex-softball player Brandy Kenney, ex-tennis player Barbara Tons, ex-basketball pro Larry Terry, former softball and volleyball coach Rickey McCalister and retired athletic trainer Ed Evans in the N-Club Hall of Fame. Northwestern State vice president Jerry Pierce will receive the N-Club’s Leadership Award.
The group was selected by voting of N-Club members, a committee of N-Club members and school administrators. The N-Club is the school’s group of its past athletic winners.
Jones said it is a “privilege” to be recognized in this hall of fame.
“The thing I’m most thankful for is the people that I can actually give recognition to who helped me from my days of playing sports,” he said, noting Lenny Dartez, his first Pop Warner football coach, and Minton as two to be thanked.
He also said his parents, Joe and Jackie Jones, his brother, Jovian Jones and Charles Poole, a good friend and ex-MCHS and then-University of Southwestern Louisiana linebacker, are others to thank.
Poole, he said, got him interested in lifting weights.
“I hated lifting weights,” he said.
Jones said being a multi-sport athlete helped him on the football field.
“I realized that basketball was one of the hardest sports, because you’re doing every last movement,” Jones said. “Then you get on the football field, and you’re already in shape.”
Jones received a football scholarship to Northwestern State and walked on the basketball team his first year, too.
He redshirted his freshman year in football and played running back and wide receiver his redshirt freshman year.
Then, in the spring after his redshirt freshman year, he was switched to cornerback, “which I had no idea what I was doing,” he said.
He had to rely on his athletic ability until he learned the system in college.
“Actually, me playing wide receiver helped me become a better cornerback, because I knew what the wide receiver was thinking when I moved to cornerback,” he said.
He went on to become a consensus All-American cornerback for Northwestern, which won the 1998 Southland Conference title and reached the Football Championship Subdivision semifinals.
His final year at Northwestern State, Jones was runner-up for the Buck Buchanan Award, which is given to FCS’ top defensive player. He also was named the 1998 Southland Conference Player of the Year and the All-Louisiana Defensive Player of the Year.
He was selected in the fifth round of the NFL Draft by the New York Jets in 1999 and played in the Arena Football League for the Dallas Desperadoes, concluding his career in 2008.
Jones now works at a Dallas, Texas, school where he manages the school’s database, among other things.
Saturday’s ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. at Magal Recital Hall and is open to the public. The group also will be recognized Saturday night during the Northwestern State football game against Houston Baptist.