Friday night’s contest between Notre Dame and Catholic High, the top two-ranked teams in Class 2A, according to the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, should be one that generates a great deal of passion, especially after the Panthers beat the Pioneers 33-16 in the Division III State Championship game in December after CHS was rolled 37-0 by the Pios in week four last season.

It’s also a battle of undefeated teams and has generated interest across the state. The game will be televised by YurView Louisiana (previously known as Cox 4).

But ask the current crop of CHS Panther football players and it’s just another game on the schedule, the next game on the schedule.

“We’re just treating it like any other game,” senior wingback/receiver Peter LeBlanc, who’s committed to sign with UL-Lafayette, said. “The most important game is the next game and we’re keeping that mentality in our heads.”

The two schools have a history with each other on the football field.

Before beating the Pios in the state championship game in December, the last time Catholic High beat Notre Dame was 2014 when the Panthers won 56-28 in Crowley on their way to a perfect 10-0 regular season and a spot in the Division III state championship game, where they lost 27-24 to Calvary Baptist.

But all that past history doesn’t matter to this crop of Panthers.

“I’m sure that there is going to be a little more talking going on and what happened last year is going to be in the back of our minds,” LeBlanc said. “But in the end it’s just another game.”

Another CHS senior, Zoe Cormier, who played in the defensive secondary last season during the championship run, echoes LeBlanc’s sentiments.

“We’re going to come in the game and go hard, just like we do every Friday night,” Cormier said. “I’m just going to emphasize to my teammates that it’s just another game.

“We can’t get caught up in last year. This is a new year and a completely different team on both sides. We know they’re coming for us but we just have to keep focused that this is just another game.”

It’s the third meeting between the two schools in the last 13 months and each team has a win in the that period, making this the rubber game of the match. But there is always the possibility that the two teams will meet again in the playoffs since both are still in Division III.

“That’s something that we don’t think about,” LeBlanc said. “We treat this game like it’s the last time we’re going to play them and we have to be ready.”

Junior quarterback Trey Amos, who also played in last season’s championship game, is ready for the challenges the Pios provide while keeping focused in the fact that it is just another game in a 10-week season.

“If we just stay focused on the task at hand, then everything will be all good,” Amos said. “It’s going to be intense, every down, every play, every quarter. We just need to do what we do.

“We know that they’re coming at us with everything they have. We know that they are a hard team to play and we have to be able to play harder than them.

“We have to keep our heads right, practice hard this week and play like we’ve been playing the past three weeks.”