Central Catholic, Patterson hang on for victories

Staff Report
Central Catholic and Patterson were the big winners in St. Mary Parish football Thursday and Friday, although by small margins.
Central Catholic quar-terback Caleb O’Con rushed for two 1-yard touchdowns in the Ea-gles’ 21-19 win over Covenant Christian on Thursday.
Patterson blocked two Donaldsonville punts in the fourth quarter to get into overtime, and Josiah Jennings caught a 5-yard TD pass from quarterback Caylon Davis in OT to give the Lumberjacks a 32-26 homecoming win.
The going was tougher for other St. Mary teams Friday.
St. James downed Berwick, 38-14; A.J. Ellender defeated Mor-gan City 26-0 in the Tigers’ homecoming game; Ascension Episco-pal won a shootout with Franklin, 66-38; unbeat-en Loreauville topped West St. Mary 34-13; and Vermilion Catholic was a 45-8 winner over Centerville.
This week, Morgan City, 2-5, is at Bourg on Thursday to play South Terrebonne, 0-5, in a District 8-4A game.
On Friday, Patterson, 6-2, is at St. James, 5-2, in a District 9-3A con-test; Central Catholic, 5-2, is at New Iberia to play Highland Baptist, 4-4, in a District 8-1A game; Berwick, 2-5, will be at home against 6-0 E.D. White, the front-runner in District 9-A; Franklin has an open date; Hanson Memorial, 5-3 and hoping to keep pace in District 8-1A, is at Centerville, 2-5; and West St. Mary, 3-5, will be at Delcambre, 3-4, for a District 7-2A game.

Patterson 32,
Donaldsonville 26 OT
Patterson was trailing 26-20 with less than 5 minutes left in regula-tion when Lumberjack Akai Keys knocked down a Donaldsonville punt to set the home team up at the visitors’ 25.
Davis converted a fourth-and-1 and moved Patterson into position with runs of 11 and 3 yards. Then he plunged over from the 3-yard line with 1:08 left. The kick failed, leaving the game tied at 26-26.
Tyson Leonard blocked a punt to put an end to Donaldsonville’s last shot in regulation.
Patterson threw Rob-ert “Clark” Kent for a 16-yard loss, and Lumberjacks Akai, Kendall Francois and Roy Jones broke passes to take away Donaldsonville’s chance in overtime. Then Davis hit Jennings from the 5 for the winning score.
Big-play defense helped define the game, but so did big-play of-fense. Before Davis scored late in regulation, six of seven combined touchdowns came on plays of at least 24 yards.
Camron Davis tore loose for a 44-yard TD on a direct snap in the first quarter, and Caylon Davis hit Kyler Paul with touchdown passes of 37 and 82 yards.
Donaldsonville quarterback Treveyon Brown hit Lawrence Forcell for a 56-yard scoring pass and Randell Oatis for a 4-yard TD. Kent broke loose for a 34-yard scor-ing run and then put Donaldsonville in front with a 24-yard TD with 7:48 left in regulation.

Central Catholic 21,
Covenant Christian 19
Central Catholic limped in with injuries to four starters, leaving the Eagles without the core of its running game.
So O’Con came out throwing, hitting four of five passes to three different receivers to set up his own 1-yard touchdown run with 6:16 left in the first quarter.
Tylon Hollins intercepted a pass from Covenant’s Connor Matherne, and an O’Con pass of 61 yards to Dominick Case set Central Catholic up at Covenant’s 1. O’Con took it from there for the TD.
Matherne kept the game close with first-half touchdown passes of 18 yards to Caiden Meyers and 66 yards to Landon Winslow. A 2-point run failed, but a kick from Carson Hebert kept Covenant within a point at 14-13. Central’s Gregory Hamer preserved the halftime lead with an interception in the end zone.
In the third quarter, O’Con ran for 12 yards on a fourth-down play to set up Tate Fontenot’s 3-yard TD run. The kick made it 21-13.
Central Catholic’s Gary Nicar recovered a fumble to end a Covenant scoring chance. Covenant drew close on a 1-yard touchdown rush by hefty JT Teuton. But Central Catholic’s defense was all over Matherne on the 2-point play, which failed.

A.J. Ellender 26,
Morgan City 0
Ellender’s defense kept Morgan City from putting anything together offensively most of the night. One chance was lost when a Charlie Wells pass into the end zone was dropped.
Ellender plugged away with a touchdown in each quarter.
In the first quarter, Xavian Bryant scored on a 1-yard run. In the second quarter, Royal Williams returned a punt 72 yards for a touchdown.
Williams scored again in the third quarter on a 57-yard pass from Donnell Young. Demind Thomas scored in the fourth on an 11-yard run.