Central Catholic knocks off Berwick; Tigers, 'Jacks fall

Berwick spent much of Friday night on a fourth-down razor’s edge. In the end, they were finished off by a battering ram.

Central Catholic, a 1A school punching up from its weight class, knocked off previously unbeaten 3A team Berwick 35-28 in Central Catholic’s homecoming football game.

The Eagles were the only east St. Mary team to win Friday.

Patterson lost its second straight game to one of the District 8-3A leaders, falling 55-13 at St. James. The Lumberjacks slipped to 4-3 and 0-2 in the district.

Morgan City fell 59-24 to South Lafourche in 4A play.

This week, Central Catholic, 6-1 and 3-0 in District 7-1A, will host unbeaten Hanson Memorial, 7-0 and 4-0, in district play Thursday.
Berwick, 6-1 and 1-0 in 8-3A, will be at home for a district game Friday against E.D. White, 6-1 and 1-0.

Patterson, 4-3 and 0-2 in 8-3A, will take on Archbishop Shaw, 5-2 and 2-0 in 10-4A, in Patterson on Friday.
Morgan City will be at home Friday against South Terrebonne, 3-5.

Central Catholic 35,
Berwick 28
This was a game of two starkly different halves — the first a high-scoring affair, the second a slug fest.

But the two halves had some things in common. In both, Berwick did a lot of gambling on fourth down, going for the first or a score seven times and converting five.

The two misfires cost dearly.

The other common thread throughout the game was the dominating presence of Central Catholic running back Damondrick Blackburn.

Blackburn rushed 33 times Friday and averaged nearly 9.5 yards on each, piling up 312 yards and four touchdowns.

Often taking direct snaps, Blackburn gained at least 10 yards on 11 of his carries, including touchdown runs of 30 and 18 yards. He also carried the ball 78 yards on one play and caught a 43-yard pass from Caleb O’Con.

O’Con was 7-for-10 passing for 153 yards and a 23-yard touchdown to Tylon Hollins, who had three catches for 38 yards. Vernon Singleton caught three passes for 72 yards.

Berwick countered with the rushing of Jayden Milton, who rushed 19 times for 136 yards and a 64-yard TD, and Andre Engleton picked up 50 yards on 12 carries, including a 13-yard touchdown.

Quarterback Cru Bella was 13-for-18 passing for 194 yards and two touchdowns. Zack Gonzales caught six of the passes for 141 of the yards and had TD receptions of 15 and 59 yards.

Central Catholic opened the game with a nine-play, 63-yard drive during which Blackburn carried seven times, the last a 30-yard sprint into the end zone. Channing Rivere’s kick made it 7-0.

Berwick responded with an eight-play, 72-yard drive that included fourth-down conversions on a 14-yard pass to Gonzales and a 2-yard plunge by Milton. Engleton capped the drive with his 13-yard scor-ing run, and the Evan Crappel kick tied the game 7-7.

Before that drive, Central Catholic hadn’t allowed an opponent inside the Eagle 39 in the previous six quarters.

The Eagles went back in front thanks to a touch of improvisation. On a first down at Berwick’s 39, O’Con looked for a receiver in the left flat, but Berwick had everyone covered. So O’Con chucked it.

He found Singleton at the 4-yard line, setting up Blackburn’s touchdown run. The kick failed.

Berwick took its only lead two plays later, the second a 64-yard scoring run by Milton. Crappell’s kick put the Panthers ahead 14-13.

Central Catholic came back again, this time on a 23-yard TD pass from O’Con to Hollins for a TD. Blackburn’s 2-point run made it 21-14.

Once more, Berwick extended a drive with a fourth-down conversion, this one an 11-yard pass from Bella to Gonzalez to Central Catholic’s 26-yard line. At the
Eagle 6, it was fourth down again, and this time Berwick needed only a yard for a first down.

This time, Central Catholic held when Ethan Wiggins wrestled Milton down for a 2-yard loss.

Blackburn’s 78-yard run set up his own 5-yard TD, and his 2-point run put the Eagles ahead 29-14.

But Berwick drew closer just before half on Bella’s passes to Gonzales, first for 25 and 17 yards, then for a 15-yard touchdown. The 2-point pass failed, and Central Catholic led 29-20 at halftime.

In the second half, the teams traded punts before Berwick embarked on an 18-play, 79-yard drive that proved to be the game decider.

The drive included three fourth-down attempts, the first two converted on runs of 6 and 3 yards by Milton.

The final fourth-down drama followed a first-and-10 at Central Catholic’s 7. Greg Hamer dropped Berwick’s Milton for a 2-yard loss on first down. Wiggins pressured Bella for an incompletion on second, and then stopped Bella for no gain on third.

Then, on the Panthers’ seventh attempt to convert a fourth down, Eagle defensive tackle Ja’cori Johnson tackled Bella after a 2-yard gain to end the drive.

Johnson also posted two tackles for losses Friday.

From there, the Central Catholic ground game took over. Running behind linemen Andrew Cavalier, Elijah Brown, Jayce Leonard, Angelo Viscardi and Ayden Garcille, Blackburn rushed 12 times on a 14-play drive topped by his 18-yard TD run. The run failed.

Berwick gave itself one more chance when Bella connected on the 59-yard touchdown pass to Gonzales,, and a 2-point pass to Milton to cut the lead to 35-28 with 1:44 left.

But Central Catholic recovered the onside kick, securing the win.