Central Cath. loses tough playoff game

The Central Catholic football team had one goal coming into this season. To win the Class 1A State Championship.

No. 1 Ouachita Christian had other plans.

As a result, the prep football season is now over in the Tri-parishes.

Thanks to a combination of dominant defense by Ouachita Christian and sloppy ball handing from Central Catholic, the top team in 1A routed the No. 9 Eagles 41-6 in front of a packed crowd split between both schools in Ouachita Christian’s stadium.

The loss ends the Eagles season three wins short of their goal and with a 10-3 record.

But it looked for a little while Friday night that the Central Catholic dream season was sitting on firm footing.

Ouachita Christian drove the football deep into Eagles territory in the first quarter.

That drive went for worse than naught as Eagles defender Dontrelle Brown recovered a fumble and took it more than 90 yards for a touchdown to give Central Catholic a 6-0 lead.

The Eagles’ momentum wasn’t able to be sustained as Ouachita Christian seized control of the game with a pair of second quarter scores to take a 14-6 lead.

Central Catholic fought to stay afloat late in the first half and got to Ouachita’s 8-yard-line. But Eagles quarterback Josh Singleton tossed a pass to Ouachita Christian defender Mark Laird, which ended that threat and ultimately the team’s chances, as the No. 1 team in the state poured multiple second half touchdowns onto its lead.

The turnover was one of four for Central Catholic. The biggest key in the game, according to Ouachita Christian coach Steven Fitzhugh.

“Our defense played solid all night,” the coach told The News Star in Monroe. “They created [the turnovers] that we ended up capitalizing on.”

Eagles coach David Fuhrer agreed and said that a football team cannot beat the No. 1 team in the state when they consistently make the mistakes Central Catholic did Friday night.

“You can’t do that against a team like Ouachita Christian,” Fuhrer told The News Star. “We dug ourselves into a hole and they came out in the second half and took it to us.”

The loss ends the careers of several Eagles seniors in the quarterfinals for the second-straight season.

But Fuhrer said this year’s senior class has no reason to hang its heads as that core group helped to reaffirm Central Catholic as one of the top programs in Class 1A, winning 21 games (four in the playoffs) over the past two seasons and 30 total games in a four-year span.

Members of the Central Catholic football team break the huddle for the final time this season following a loss to Ouachita Christian. The Eagles ended their season in the Class 1A State Quarterfinals three wins short of their goal of a state championship. HOWARD CASTAY JR