Catholic High’s JaDan Stokes (6) looks to avoid Loreauville’s Drake Dressel (5) Friday. 

LOREAUVILLE — Sometimes a simple play triggers an avalanche of points.

Friday night, it was an interception returned for a touchdown that started the avalanche for Catholic High in a 63-14, District 7-2A rout of Loreauville.

CHS held a slim 7-point lead over the Tigers at 21-14  as Loreauville took possession of the ball to start the third quarter.

LHS quarterback Zy Alexander tried to throw to Brennon Williams coming out of the backfield but Catholic High linebacker Noah Broussard jumped the route, took the ball out of the air as Williams tried to grab it and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown to give CHS a 28-14 lead.

That pick-6 was the catalyst for a 35-point outburst in the third quarter for the Panthers, who went from a 7-point lead at halftime to a 42-point led up at the end of the third period on the way to the 49-point win.

“It was something that we really needed to change the score and get a little momentum going,” Broussard said. “I saw Brennon Williams come out in the flats and I read it and was ready to make the play on it.

“After that I was thinking that I better not get caught from behind.”

Broussard didn’t and in a game full on big plays, that interception return for a score proved to be the biggest as the Panthers improved to 6-1 overall and 3-0 in district headed into Friday’s homecoming game with Delcambre and an expected district championship game in two weeks at Ascension Episcopal.

“No doubt that Noah was the catalyst of all that,” CHS coach Brent Indest said. 

“Not only that play but a couple of others in their backfield. He’s come such a long way. He was struggling earlier in the year but after tonight you would have to call him our most improved defensive player.”

It wasn’t only Broussard making big plays for the Panthers in the win over their longtime rival.

Of Catholic High’s nine touchdowns, seven were from 33 yards away or longer as the Panthers used the big play to success Friday.

“We had a lot of big plays but the negative was that we had a lot of negative plays in the first half,” Indest said. “But we got it all working. We made some boneheaded blocking decisions in the first half, but we fixed it and moved on.”

JaDan Stokes rushed for 159 yards and three touchdowns (43, 55 and 41 yards); Ben Landry rushed for 129 yards and two scores (34 and 50 yards) and Peter LeBlanc caught a 33-yard touchdown pass from Diallo Landry. Add Broussard’s pick-6 and Catholic High just bludgeoned Loreauville with the big play. In fact, CHS needed five plays or fewer to score on eight touchdown drives.

“In the first half, we had some adversity and looked at film at halftime,” CHS lineman Spencer Broussard said. “In the second half we came out and did our thing (on the line) and let the backfield do their thing.

“It’s always nice to have a little one-and-done, but we also like to grind it out sometimes to keep us on our toes.”

Loreauville (2-5, 2-1) didn’t go quietly.

The Tigers gave Catholic High all they wanted in the first half with big plays from Alexander, who threw a 22-yard touchdown on a fourth down play to Shajuan Nora and a 12-yard touchdown pass to Leslie Alexander right before halftime to make the score 21-14 at the break.

Alexander led Loreauville with 70 yard rushing and 63 yards passing. The Tigers play host to Ascension Episcopal Friday.

“The kids played really well in the first half and we executed the game plan we had coming in,” LHS coach Rhett Peltier said. “But we had a few injuries late in the first half that got us out of our game plan and the lack of depth that we have hurt us in the second half.

“I’m proud of the way the kids played but we just have to put together four quarters.”

Despite the adversity the Panthers faced in the first half, Indest remained calm at halftime when he talked to his team.

“I think the kids were expecting me to lose my mind at half and we did the opposite,” the CHS coach said. “We stayed calm and the one thing I told them was that these guys showed up for a street fight and I didn’t think we were ready for that.

“In a rivalry game you have to be ready for a brawl. But in the second half we came out and wore them down and executed like we’re supposed to.”