Catholic-New Iberia exacts sweet revenge, wins Division III state title over Notre Dame

NEW ORLEANS – Rematches can often be very tricky propositions.

The rematch in the Allstate Sugar Bowl LHSAA Division III state championship game Thursday night in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome couldn’t have ended more differently than the first meeting. The Catholic-New Iberia Panthers jumped out to a fast start on their way to a 33-16 win over the Notre Dame Pioneers to claim the school’s first state crown since 1962.

Catholic-New Iberia (12-1) racked up 292 yards on the ground and forced five Notre Dame turnovers on the night. It was a stark contrast to the regular season meeting that Notre Dame took 37-0 over the Panthers in late September.

“Tonight we were Catholic High,” said Panthers head coach Brent Indest. “We stuck to our guns, played good defense, and ran the ball. We had great match-ups with our receivers on the corners and we took advantage of that.”

The Panthers couldn’t draw up a better start with touchdowns on their first two drives.

Catholic New-Iberia took the ball to start the game and drove 78 yards on eight plays including a 41-yard run by Jadan Stokes to open the possession and a conversion on 4^th & 6 with a 16-yard pass to Peter Leblanc. Ben Landry finished the drive with a 13-yard run up the gut. The extra point was missed.

Catholic-New Iberia took the ball back and marched 73 yards on four plays on their second drive. Diallo Landry finished with a one-yard run. This time, the extra point was true to make the Panthers lead 13-0.

Notre Dame struggled to get their footing offensively and their second drive came to a sudden halt with an interception that was returned to the Pioneers 22. The Notre Dame defense held to a field goal attempt that was blocked by Cameron Nelson. Notre Dame turned that into their first points of the game when John William Lamm struck a 35-yard field goal.

The Panthers went on a long drive of their own to answer. Their response lasted 13 plays and 64 yards while taking 5:14 off the clock. The first of two Sam Robichaux field goals connected from 22 yards out. Robichaux added a 25-yarder that came off a lost fumble. The Panthers led 19-3 into the locker room and outgained Notre Dame 217-95.

“We had a couple of times where they scored and we answered,” said Indest. “You don’t have 13-play drives against Notre Dame, but we did that and what it does is it starts getting into your opponent’s head that maybe it’s not their night.”

Landry completed five passes, but most were big plays. He had 86 yards passing in the first half and three more of his attempts in the first half drew pass interference penalties on Notre Dame. Two occurred in 3^rd and long situations.

The second half began in similar fashion for the Panthers. Their first two drives ended with touchdown runs of 50 and 44 yards. Sandwiched in between, Notre Dame scored their first touchdown of the night on a one-yard run by Waylon Bourgeois.

Stokes finished with 129 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. Landry had 118 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. Treynayvian Amos had both interceptions for the Panthers. Cole Lipari had two receptions, but both were big gains (18 and 38 yards).

For Notre Dame, Gentry Borill had 10 catches for 134 yards. The Pioneers rushed for 106 yards on 27 carries as a team. Bergeron completed 19-of-36 passes for 273 yards.