East Ascension pulled back within two scores before halftime and had an opportunity for further momentum receiving the third-quarter kickoff.
But Teurlings Catholic defensive back Jacob Dean snatched an immediate interception, and quarterback Alex Munoz dashed his way into the end zone two plays later to spark a two-pick, four-touchdown quarter.
And the Rebels rolled away to a 64-29 victory behind three interceptions and two fourth-down stops in the second half and five total Munoz touchdowns to remain undefeated.
“I wish I would’ve returned it the whole way, but we were doing that the whole week expecting the corner routes,” Dean said. “The safety was right there. I saw him on top, so I got underneath and it was right there, just like practice … It was crazy. The defense was pumped up.”
Teurlings Catholic never trailed, shutting down the Spartans early and stacking a three-score lead with short touchdown runs by Spencer Meche and Munoz and the first of two 30-yard scoring connections between Munoz and Andrew Viator.
A fast, physical and sound Rebels defense contained the East Ascension offense well out the gate, weathered a couple explosive swings from the Spartans and answered with splashy plays of their own.
“I knew coming into the game we had to stop the run,” said senior edge/linebacker Andrew Fruge, who helped spearhead a disruptive effort up front. “That was our big challenge this week. And after the first two drives holding ’em up and stopping the run, I felt very confident and our defense felt very confident. We had a few slip-ups kind of later into the game. But overall I think we had a good defensive performance.”
The Spartans didn’t help themselves at times early with drops and other missed opportunities.
An 87-yard catch-and-run for junior wide receiver Jeremyah Merriweather from senior quarterback J.J. LeBouef finally put them on the board.
But Teurlings Catholic struck right back with a 66-yard Meche scamper for his second score and a 28-7 lead.
“I just felt like we didn’t execute,” East Ascension coach Brock Matherne said. “A lot of dropped balls in key moments to keep drives going. Just a lot of miscues. We clearly didn’t come to play tonight. So kudos to them. They had a great game plan. They played hard. They outplayed us, out-efforted us, out-executed us, out-physicaled us. Anything you can think about in a game, they did it better.”
The Spartans pieced together a drive late in the half for an eventual 19-yard touchdown strike from LeBouef to senior Joseph Gautreau on a fourth-down conversion with 1:15 to play in the half.
Teurlings Catholic would only allow the margin to remain within 28-14 for less than two minutes of game time, though, as the Rebels pounced to begin the third and never let up.
“Those guys kept fighting,” first-year coach Michael Courville said. “We were up 21-0, and they showed a lot of fight making it a two-score game going into half, but interception on the first play of the second half really kind of just gave us the momentum. We scored right away. And then with a pick-six by Kaden Chavis as well, we just kind of — I don’t want to say ran away it, but we kinda put it out of reach.”
The Rebels followed the Dean pick and Munoz score with a fourth-down stop that set up a 27-yard touchdown from Munoz to Quinn Simon, yet another senior, to stretch the advantage to 43-14.
East Ascension found the end zone again as junior Jayden Ursin caught a pass from LeBouef, broke a tackle and took off up the sideline for the 80-yard score.
But Teurlings Catholic recovered the ensuing onside kick, ground its way to an 8-yard Ian Schwarber touchdown run and then piled on a 48-yard pick-six by Chavis.
LeBouef found LSU offensive line commit Brysten Martinez, an increasingly versatile weapon for the Spartans, in the back corner of the end zone late in the quarter for a third-down conversion and their team’s final score.
Early in the fourth, senior linebacker Jaxon Broussard joined Dean and Chavis with the Rebels’ third interception of the half.
And Munoz and Viator connected again for a 30-yard wind to paydirt as the home team continued to coast to their eighth straight victory to open the season and match a season-high with 64 points.
“Just once again playing our game,” Munoz said of the performance. “Being physical up front and establishing the run early opened up some passes that we could convert on third down. And the defense just played a great game and got us multiple points. Great time.”