OCS, SEHS Provide Epic Show
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
There was the suspicion that Opelousas Catholic and St. Edmund would provide an offensive show Friday night at Donald Gardner Stadium.
Statistically those expectations proved correct, as St. Edmund scored a 46-42 victory in a game that included district title implications.
The combined offenses accounted for 1,012 total yards, as St. Edmund defeated OCS for the first time in 12 seasons.
Many of the St. Edmund senior football players were likely in first grade or kindergarten the last time the Blue Jays (4-1, 2-0) defeated No. 8 OCS (4-1, 1-1).
OCS head coach Cullen Matherne complimented St. Edmund following the contest.
“They have 18 seniors and it’s a good crew. They deserved to win this game. You could say St. Edmund is the front runner in the district now. I told our players that losing this game is not the end of the world. Our program has won the district for a lot of years and if we don’t win it this season, it’s not the end of the world. The next opponent is what matters most,” Matherne said.
St. Edmund head football coach James Shiver said the Jays captured one of the key program victories during the modern era.
“Opelousas Catholic is a great team with tremendous athletes. We knew they have great team speed, but I thought we were able to match our team speed with theirs. I thought we were able to also match up against them with our linemen. Overall it was definitely a big night for us,” Shiver said.
The defensive objective, Shiver said, was to neutralize as much as possible the Vikings’ screen passing game as well as temper the OCS running game.
“They have a good screen passing game and we thought we saw some things they did with it that tipped us off so we thought we would be ready for it,” Shiver added.
The Vikings were also flagged for 13 accepted penalties and 140 yards. The 22-penalty game also featured 79 yards relinquished on nine flags against St. Edmund.
St. Edmund senior quarterback Kane West only completed three-of-13 passes for 104 yards, but West threw for a touchdown and ran for another 63 on 10 attempts. Blue Jays’ running back Henry Summerlin ran for a game-high 250 yards on 22 attempts.
Opelousas Catholic wide receiver Roderick Tezeno caught six passes for 149 yards, while Vikings’ quarterback Kross Gillen threw for 315 off 10 completions.
OCS senior Rowen Bergeron ran four times for 200 yards.
Bergeron caught a pair of touchdown passes from Gillen on completions of 77 and 64 yards. Tezeno caught a 54-yard TD pass from Gillen with 2:12 left in the third period.
The teams scored a cumulative five touchdowns during a first quarter that ended with 22-14 St. Edmund advantage.
SEHS led 30-28 at halftime.
The Blue Jays led 38-35 at the end of the third period, which was highlighted by an 80-yard punt return by St. Edmund’s Wyatt Dubois and a 43-yard run from Bergeron with 4:34 left in the period.
West ended the scoring with the prevailing touchdown on a 1-yard run that ended a five-play, 74-yard drive with two minutes left in the game.
Next week OCS travels to meet Westminster Christian (3-2, 1-1), while the Jays host Berchmans Academy (1-4, 0-2).