A banged-up Catholic-Baton Rouge weathered its way through a slow first half Friday before hitting a championship gear to pull away from Alexandria with a dominant second half.
The No. 4 Bears (10-2) marched 92 yards on their first possession of the third quarter to take their first lead, then set up and cashed in on a series of short fields to blow open the 44-6 roll past the No. 5 Trojans (9-1).
“We’re both good teams and both have good defenses and stuff like that,” said junior running back Jayden Miles, who made four of the team’s six end-zone trips. “So coach just came in there (at halftime) and said, ‘Let’s dominant, do what we do. We ain’t playing against them. We’re playing against our standard. On the line, Catholic High football.'”
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound standout capped the third-quarter march with a 7-yard run for the game’s first touchdown and a 10-6 advantage.
Only kickers had managed to crack the scoreboard in the first half: Alexandria junior Eli Fung twice from 21 and 27 yards and then Catholic senior Tanner Forbes from 22 yards as the second quarter expired.
Once the Bears got rolling, though, they didn’t stop. And their defense continued to feed them with a quick succession of fumble recovery, interception, three-and-out and fumble recovery to set up a series of starting opportunities in Trojans’ territory.
“The keys were really stop the run, limit the screen passes and a few different really specific things that we kinda game-planned for them,” said senior safety Blaine Bradford, an Ohio State commit. “But really just playing together, playing as a team, playing knowing that God was just gonna be there with us the whole time, playing through him. And, yeah, really coming out and destroying them in the second half.”
Miles finished with game-highs of 112 yards, three scores and 21 carries on the ground, plus a 32-yard scoring reception.
After an Alexandria fumble, his fellow junior running mate Justin Batiste‘s caught a 5-yard pass from senior quarterback Turner Goldsmith to turn a 23-yard field into a 16-6 lead.
Then Miles scored on the next three possessions — a 32-yard catch-and-run from Goldsmith and carries of 5 and 32 yards to stretch the margin to 37-6 early in the fourth.
Goldsmith finished 12-for-17 (70.6%) for 256 yards and two touchdowns, with junior tight end Jude Chamberlain catches six passes for 115 yards and senior receiver Beau Thomas adding 91 yards on three receptions.
Senior safety Ian Locklar returned an interception 32 yards to the end zone just 20 seconds later as an early exclamation point on the evening.
“I’m really just thankful,” Miles said. “Being able to practice on Thanksgiving and things like that, it’s really just a great thing,. I feel like this team we’ve got this year is special. Like, our bond, our brotherhood and all that is just good. I just feel like we’re gonna keep the ball rolling, get back in Sunday and just watch film and onto the next.”
The next is a semifinal date with top-seeded and highly touted Edna Karr (12-0), which has won 25 straight games the past two seasons.
Last year’s semifinal, a 21-19 survival of Catholic, marked the only time in that span in which a Louisiana opponent has kept within single digits of the Cougars.
“We’ve always came with the attitude of ‘it’s just the next game’ type of thing, and the opponent is nameless and faceless,” Bradford said. “So we’re gonna come in and prepare like we always do every single week no matter who it is. And we’re gonna be ready.”
