Tough defense is quickly becoming a hallmark of Catholic High’s 2011 football season.

The Panthers stuffed previously unbeaten Church Point for most of the night Friday, holding the Bears to 65 yards on the ground and 145 yards passing in a 29-13 non-district win. Sixty-five of those passing yards came on a touchdown against broken coverage after CHS had put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter.

“The defense came out tonight and played extremely well,” said CHS quarterback Joe Lissard, who threw for 237 yards with three touchdowns. 

“I can’t say enough about them.”

Coach Keith Menard was equally effusive. The Panthers had three interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown, and a fumble recovery that set up a quick-strike touchdown early in the fourth quarter. And outside of the one long touchdown pass, Catholic High held the Bears in check for virtually the entire game. The Panthers made seven tackles for losses and nine other stops for gains of two yards or less.

“This sounds corny, but our whole deal’s to get as many hats to the ball as possible,” said Menard. “So if there is a turnover, we’re going to get it. I just think our defense has played really well for us this season. They kept us in it the first half.”

Catholic High held onto a slim 8-6 halftime lead. The Panthers reached the Church Point 3-yard line on their first possession but couldn’t get into the end zone and turned the ball over on downs at the 5. CHS converted its next possession into points when Lissard found Blake Byrom for an 18-yard TD pass with 3:32 to go in the first quarter. Rhett Gonsoulin passed to Ryan Menard for the 2-point conversion out of the swinging gate formation for an 8-0 lead.

An exchange of interceptions in the second quarter set up Church Point’s first touchdown. After Tyler Olivier made the first of his two pickoffs for Catholic High, Deonta Lazard intercepted for the Bears five plays later. CPHS drove 60 yards in 10 plays, with Jacob Boone carrying in from the 5 to cut it to 8-6. An attempt for 2 failed.

CHS went 77 yards in nine plays to extend is lead late in the third quarter, setting off a flurry of scoring after the teams struggled to find the end zone for most of the game. 

Gonsoulin took a screen pass from Lissard 30 yards to the goal with 2:10 remaining in the third quarter to make it a 15-6 lead, with the PAT kick by Grant Nelson.

Three plays after the ensuing kickoff, Olivier made the second of his pickoffs, gathering in an overthrow from CPHS quarterback Jake Morvant near midfield and racing up the sideline, cutting back around the 5 to avoid the last Church Point player before getting to the end zone. Gonsoulin ran the ball in for the 2-point conversion and a 23-6 lead.

“I wanted to get to the end zone on it,” said Olivier, who slipped after making his first interception of the night. “They told me to play Cover 3, and I made a play on (the ball). My teammates did a great job blocking for me.”

Four plays later, on the second play of the fourth quarter, Andrew Hebert recovered a Church Point fumble at the Bears 43, and Lissard threw deep to Byrom, who made his second highlight-reel catch of the night for a touchdown, reaching over two defenders to snatch the ball out of the air inside the 5, then fighting his way into the end zone for a 29-6 lead.

Church Point struck for a 65-yard TD pass on its next offensive snap, only 10 seconds later, when Desmond Bellard got behind the defense on a play action pass and Morvant hit him for the easy score.

The two teams put up 28 points combined in a span of 2:47 after scoring only 14 points between them over the first 33:50 of the game.

Neither team found the end zone again over the final 11:13. Ryan Menard’s interception at the 41 with 2:08 to go ended Church Point’s last drive.

Byrom had six catches, including a beautiful one-handed grab, for 110 yards. D’Shawn Etienne had three for 52 yards and Gonsoulin caught four passes for 52 yards.

“We didn’t execute as well (on offense) as we wanted to, but give (Church Point) a lot of credit,” said Menard. “I think offensively we were able to run the ball better in the second half.”

Lissard said staying focused helped the offense bounce back in the second half. 

He said the Panthers must stay focused, play hard and eliminate mental mistakes to extend their win streak, which is now at three games after a narrow loss in the season opener.

“We have to keep playing hard and playing smart,” said Lissard.

CHS plays host to Notre Dame on Friday.