Catholic High quarterback Joe Lissard had as much time as he wanted to throw the ball every time he dropped back to pass Friday night in the Panthers’ Class 2A regional playoff game against Welsh.

The CHS junior took maximum advantage of his opportunities, completing 20 of 21 passes for 352 yards and seven touchdowns in a 50-6 rout of the Greyhounds, who entered the game on a seven-game win streak, including a 59-6 bi-district win over Lake Arthur the week before.

The win sets up a huge showdown next Friday in Shreveport with longtime prep football powerhouse Evangel Christian Academy, a 78-22 winner over Homer in the regional round. Catholic High is seeded fourth and has won 11 straight games to improve to 11-1. Evangel is 7-5 with six wins in its last seven games, those wins coming by an average score of 62-5. Four were shutouts.

“We have to prepare like we always do,” said Lissard. “Take it one day at a time.”

And that’s just what the Panthers plan to do, said coach Keith Menard.

“We’re not going to change what we do,” he said. “Our practice schedules have stayed the same. We’re going to watch film tomorrow (Saturday). The times might change (because of the Thanksgiving week holiday) but we’re going to keep the same schedule.”

That gameplan has worked well this season, culminating in Friday’s win over a Welsh team that averaged 36 points a game and had three shutouts to its credit. The 13th-seeded Greyhounds (9-3) hadn’t surrendered more than 27 points in a game this season.

That had changed by halftime of Friday’s game, by which time CHS had built a 36-6 lead. The Panthers took advantage of early mistakes to score on their first seven possessions, all the result of Lissard passes. Three of those scoring passes went to Rhett Gonsoulin, a career high, and two went to Gabriel Fuselier.

“The offensive line was doing a great job like they always do,” said Lissard. “The receiver’s did a great job getting open. We prepared real well coming in.”

“If you look at him, he’s clean,” agreed Menard, noting the clean state of his quarterback’s clothes as a result of not being hit by the defense. “If he’s clean and upright, he’s going to do a great job. He makes throws to make the receivers look great. The receivers make catches that make him look great.”

And Welsh couldn’t handle Catholic High’s receiving corps in man-to-man defense, which the Greyhounds tried. Gonsoulin had his best game of the year with six catches for 133 yards. Blake Byrom had five catches for 90 yards and a TD, and Fuselier had six catches for 80 yards. Three other receivers also caught passes.

“We knew going in how good they were with their passing game,” said Welsh coach Robbie Gates. “Their offense is real potent. Their receivers do a good job going to the ball. Joe had a great night.”

Welsh fumbled the ball away on its second play from scrimmage, with Elliot Broussard recovering at the 16 after the ball got booted back toward the WHS goal. The Greyhounds stopped the Panthers short and forced a field goal, which went wide right, but roughed CHS kicker Grant Quinlan in the process to give Catholic High an automatic first down at the 6. Lissard and Gonsoulin hooked up on the next play for the first of their three TD connections, and Gonsoulin then threw to Jared Bullock for the 2-point conversion and an 8-0 lead.

Just like that, the CHS offense was in high gear.

“Early on, we started the game off with a fumble, then we stopped them, they missed a field, and we get a penalty,” said Gates. “We didn’t seem to catch any breaks. Every time we’d get a great stop they’d make a big play.”

After throwing incomplete on his second pass attempt, Lissard completed his next 19 before leaving the game in the fourth quarter. More than a third of his completions went for TDs, including a beautiful 59-yard hookup with Gonsoulin on the Panthers’ second possession and a nice 21-yard catch by Byrom early in the third quarter.

Gonsoulin nearly had four TD catches but one was negated by a penalty, trimming what had been a 57-yard pass to 32 yards. That delayed the inevitable for exactly one play as Lissard hit Byrom from 21 yards out on the next snap.

“I had a lot of one-on-one coverage,” said Gonsoulin. “When you have two other good receivers, you’re going to get one-on-one coverage. After the first touchdown, I felt really good and confident.”

Catholic High’s defense also continued to shine, with Ryan Menard making a beautiful diving interception on the sideline to go with the Panthers’ early fumble recovery. Though CHS gave up 211 yards rushing, they held the Greyhounds out of the end zone after one 48-yard gallop by quarterback David Caraway and surrendered points only once, a one-yard sneak by Caraway that was set up by Nick Hebert’s 54-yard breakaway run midway through the second quarter.

Caraway led Welsh with 70 yards on 12 carries and Hebert added 69 yards on a dozen totes.

“We shut them down,” said Keith Menard. “That second drive they had one little run (Caraway’s 48-yarder) and we stopped them. But give them credit. Their quarterback and running backs are good players.”

Gates said he is proud of his team, especially the seniors who led a turnaround from the previous year’s 3-7 record.

Catholic High has the chance to continue its turnaround from a 4-7 mark the previous season when the Panthers travel to face No. 5 seed Evangel. The winner faces a semifinal matchup against either top-seeded John Curtis or No. 9 seed Kinder.ꆱ