St. Edmund Outscored
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Contributing Writer
St. Edmund found one team that it could not outscore.
Undefeated and top-seeded Vermilion Catholic used short field scoring chances and compiled 41 unanswered first half points Friday night as the Eagles eliminated the Blue Jays from the 2024 football state playoffs.
The 60-20 quarterfinal victory propelled VCHS into the Division IV-select semifinal round against 12th-seeded Kentwood, while St. Edmund (11-2) finished with one of the best football seasons in recent school history.
Senior-loaded St. Edmund, which entered the game seeded eighth and averaging over 40 points, lost one of two fumbles. Quarterback Kane West was intercepted twice, with one of those picks returned by Tevin Hebert for a second quarter touchdown.
The Eagles were certainly efficient offensively .
Vermilion scored eight times despite only 15 minutes and 50 seconds of offensive possession. The Eagles were also successful on four of five third down attempts.
Vermilion Catholic, which received 318 total yards from Jonathan Dartez, used several short field situations in order to orchestrate three Eagles’ touchdowns.
During the first half scoring flurry, the Eagles launched scoring drives of 29, 38 and 10 yards.
Dartez was the protagonist for much of the VCHS scoring with five touchdowns.
In the first quarter, Dartez tied the game on a 57-yard touchdown run. Then in the second half, Dartez scored touchdowns of runs of nine, 18 and two yards. VCHS also scored with a minute and 33 seconds remaining in the third period on a 33 pass from Dartez to Matthew Mollure.
In addition to the turnovers, the Jays also had trouble sustaining offensive drives.
St. Edmund converted only one of nine third down chances.
The Blue Jays opened the game with a five-yard scoring pass from West to wide receiver Blake Moran, who ended with four catches for 49 yards.
Running back Henry Summerlin scored the other two touchdowns for St. Edmund.
One of the Summerlin scores came on a third quarter 43-yard run. The second Summerlin touchdown occurred on an 18-yard run with 1:34 remaining in the game.
Summerlin gained 213 yards, while West completed 10-of-16 attempts.
