Catholic powers past St. Thomas More in second half for 49-28 win.

BATON ROUGE – Catholic High pulled away in the second half Friday night for a 49-28 win over previously undefeated St. Thomas More at Memorial Stadium.

The Cougars held the lead after a high scoring first half, 28-21, before the Catholic defense and dominant line play changed the course of the game.

The Bears took command in the second stanza, ganing 277 yards on the ground and outscoring St Thomas More, 28-0.

On the night, Catholic (3-1) ran for 425 yards including nearly 300 from junior running back Barry Remo II.

“Proud of the way our guys fought. It was nip and tuck for the first 30 minutes,” said Catholic head coach David Simmoneaux. “A second half shutout against those guys is astronomical. We’ve got alot of respect for them.”

Remo II raced 73 yards to ice the game half way through the final quarter for one of his four touchdowns. His backfield mate Ryland Parker added a pair of third quarter scores to put the Bears ahead to stay.

“Hats off to the Catholic Bears. They were the more physical team, especially in the second half,” said St. Thomas More head coach Jim Hightower.

The first half saw plenty of fireworks. The Cougars scored first, marching nine plays and 80 yards in 3:46 as Sam Altman hit Landon Strather for a 13 yard score.The Bears answered with a 57-yard scamper from Remo II.

Catholic took a 14-7 lead after forcing a STM fumble. On the ensuing possesion. Daniel Beale hooked up for a touchdown with Shelton Sampson, the LSU commitment who later in the game became the Catholic High all-time receiving leader, breaking a 30-year old record.

The Cougars evened the score at 14-14 on a leaping Christian Mcnees grab that capped a fast four-play drive covering 80 yards.

Remo scored from 15 yards out to put the Bears ahead again 21-14 after one quarter.

Hutch Swilley’s eight-yard touchdown knotted the score again at 21-21 just six seconds into the second quarter. Beale tossed an interception on a deflection corraled by Nicholas Beckwith who returned it down to the Bears 11-yard line. Altman hit Strother on the ensuing play from 11 yard out to put St .Thomas More (3-1) ahead, 28-21.

The Bears scored on an apparent pick-six before the half but the score was nullified by an illegal block. “That would’ve gave us alot of momentum before half,” Simmoneaux said. “We needed a ballgame like this to show that we could take it to the next level physically. We threw two passes in the second half. We put it on the backs and o-line.”