Catholic High’s Peter LeBlanc (29) catches a pass for a touchdown against Jeanerette from earlier this year. LeBlanc had a touchdown pass against Delcambre.

A larger, faster and deeper team avoided overlooking a scrappy but winless team and played at the top of its game Friday night in New Iberia.

The focus on a homecoming night showed in Catholic High School’s 70-0 romp past Delcambre.

CHS, tuning up for a district title showdown this week against Ascension Episcopal, rode a punishing ground attack that netted 340 yards and a deadly passing game to run its record to 7-1, 4-0 in Class 2A, District 7. The visiting Panthers fell to 0-7, 0-5 in district.

“Well, we knew we were playing an outmatched team. We just had bigger and stronger guys than them,” CHS head coach Brent Indest said after his squad scored touchdowns on its first nine possessions, six of them on first down plays.

CHS led after the first quarter, 35-0, and at halftime, 63-0.

His Panthers went into the game with the intention of working on its aerial game, Indest said. Diallo Landry, the CHS quarterback, threw three touchdown passes in the first 1 1/2 quarters before the passing attack was shut down.

“We wanted to come out early and throw it. We executed that real well,” Indest said.

Landry, who was 7-for-7 for 102 yards and three TDs, agreed. Six of his passes were caught by Peter LeBlanc and one by Trey Henry.

“Peter’s a real good receiver. He can catch everything and he can run real good routes,” Landry said about LeBlanc, who caught a 5-yard scoring pass in the first quarter and a 42-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.

Henry’s lone reception was an 11-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring nearly 1 ½ minutes into the homecoming game in which Remi LeBlanc was crowned queen at halftime.

The quarterback said all he had to do was pick out his receivers and fire.

“The offensive line and receivers did most of the work. I was able to deliver the passes,” he said.

Toward the end of the second quarter and all of the second half he and other starters became bystanders as Indest emptied the bench. Landry was glad for the younger players.

“We were able to get the young guys in and get them experience. Its homecoming and all the families came out to see us play and finally got to see them play,” he said.

One of those young players was Zoe Cormier, who ripped off a 48-yard run on the team’s second play of the second half. He broke a tackle in the backfield and, like a white/red blur, wasn’t caught until he motored to the DHS 8.

“We’ve got kids like Zoe who are playing defense now, earning their stripes. He’s the heir apparent to Stokes,” Indest said, referring to JaDan Stokes, who wowed the happy hometown fans with touchdown runs of 33 and 44 yards and added a 55-yard punt return to close out the scoring explosion in the first quarter.

Stokes led all rushers with 106 yards on five carries.

Ben Landry added two touchdowns on carries of 5 and 30 yards. Henry also scored on a 28-yard run for the last touchdown of the first half.

Alex Moore’s 4-yard scoring burst at the 4:50 mark in the third quarter closed out the scoring for CHS.

Indest said he was proud of the junior varsity and freshmen players who got in the game.

“It’s nice for homecoming when you’ve got all the moms and dads and you get the kids some  snaps,” the veteran head coach said. “It was nice seeing them out there playing in front of the home fans.”

CHS owned the line of scrimmage, offensively and defensively. Delcambre’s offense managed 12 yards through four quarters, forcing Shadd Derise to punt eight times for a 30.8-yard average.

“Our defense just kept forcing three-and-out. We were playing on a short field,” Indest said.

The CHS front seven spearheaded the defensive dominance. Tyrell Lockett, Andrew Mayeux and Jordan Derouen led the charge.

Delcambre’s Noah Broussard, Parker Nunez and Tirney Dejean kept pounding into the wall with little turf to show for it, Broussard 17 times for 15 yards, Nunez seven times for 8 yards and Dejean four times for 2 yards.

DHS quarterback completed two of six passes for 7 yards and was intercepted twice, first by CHS defensive back Broc Romero midway through the second quarter. Then, after Delcambre’s Scott Duhon scooped up a fumbled CHS snap and returned it to the CHS 13 for the visitor’s best field position of the night, Dooley was picked off again on first down by Noah Broussard.

Dylan Vallecillo, a workhorse running back for Delcambre, was on crutches on the visiting sideline with a heavy brace on a knee. He was one of the captains, joining Lane Broussard, Trevor Baudoin and Derise.

Though outmanned and many going both ways, Delcambre’s Panthers stuck with it on the gridiron.

“They battled every snap,” Indest said.

CHS turned its attention to the showdown in Youngsville against Ascension Episcopal.

“We’ve been waiting all year for this game. We knew it’d be for the district championship,” Landry, the  CHS QB, said. 

Indest said, “We’ve got Ascension Episcopal coming up, which is pretty much for the district championship. We need to have a good week of practice and continue to get better.”