Collin Guggenheim’s four touchdowns power John Curtis past Jesuit, 56-28

VIDEO: Highlights/Interviews from Curtis-Jesuit

METAIRIE – The famous John Curtis veer option attack was unstoppable Friday night, helping the Patriots run over and away from the Jesuit Blue Jays for a 56-28 victory on Homecoming Night at The Shrine on Airline.

Curtis racked up 352 yards on the ground, accounting for six of the team’s seven offensive touchdowns on the night.

The Patriots scored five touchdowns in the first half, seemingly putting the game out of reach by halftime.  Quarterback Collin Guggenheim scored the first three touchdowns of the game on rushes of 31, 3 and 4 yards.  Guggenheim led all rushers for the game with 189 yards on 11 carries and four touchdowns.

“The o-line, they did a great job for me tonight,” said Guggenheim. “The guys, they opened up some gaps and the coaches upstairs…really gave me the opportunity to do something special.”

On the other side of the field, the Blue Jays struggled to find their wings offensively in the first half.  Jesuit punted four times, gave the ball away on a fumble and watched the clock run down to zero, matching their first half score, with an incomplete pass into the end zone on the final play of the second quarter.

Jesuit (1-5) recovered a fumble on the Patriots 37 yard line for their first offensive possession of the game and then drove inside the Curtis 25 yard line, but the opportunity to strike first slipped through their hands when Max Scheurich’s 41 yard field goal fell well short.

From there, the first half  rout was on.

John Curtis (5-1) scored on three straight possessions via Guggenheim rushes to make the score 21-0 with 8:59 to play in the half.  A seven yard score from Ma’Khi Smith and a 61 yard screen pass from Donell Jones to Darryan Washington made it 35-0 Curtis at the break.

Coming out of the locker room to start the second half, the Blue Jays looked completely opposite from the team that took the field the first two quarters.

Following a punt return that spotted the Blue Jays possession at the Curtis 39 yard line, quarterback Alex Watermeier immediately struck with a 37 yard pass to Noah Varnado down to the two yard line.  Willie Robinson punched it in from 2 yards out on the next play to put the Jays on the board 35-7 with 7:54 to play in the third quarter.

Starting in Curtis territory on their next possession again, Watermeier went back to work, hitting Drew Black on a 31 yard pass to the Curtis 17 yard line.  Four plays later, Watermeier connected with Varnado on a five yard touchdown to cut the Curtis lead to 35-14 at the 2:32 mark in the third quarter.

A Guggenheim fumble further injected life into Jesuit.  Taking over at the 19 yard line, Watermeier led the Blue Jays on an impressive 12 play drive ending in a nine-yard touchdown pass to Robert McMahon to bring Jesuit within two scores, 35-21, with 9:48 to play in the ball game.

“No lead is insurmountable, there’s no question about it,” said head coach J.T.Curtis about the Jesuit rally. “Watermeier threw the ball extremely well, they ran their patterns well and we got a little discombobulated to be honest with you.”

With the momentum fully swung back in the Blue Jays’ favor, Guggenheim broke free on an option keeper up the middle and raced 75 yards for his fourth touchdown of the night. The long run dealt a gut punch to the Jesuit rally and extended the Curtis lead back to 42-21 with 8:41 to play in the game.

The Patriots then came up with an interception to set up shop again at the Blue Jays 30 yard line.  Four plays later, Ernest Jones punched it into the end zone.

Even with the momentum gone and rally squashed, the Jays did not back down.  A huge kick return gave Jesuit first down at the Curtis 20 yard line.  Five plays later, Watermeier connected with Varnado for his third touchdown pass of the night, a five-yard strike to make it 49-28 with five minutes to go.

The Patriots slammed the door shut on the next Jesuit possession when Brandon Davis returned an interception of Watermeier 35 yards for a touchdown with 2:45 left in the contest.

Both teams will be back on the field for District 9-5A contests next Friday night.  John Curtis will matchup with the St. Augustine Purple Knights while Jesuit will meet Rummel at Tulane’s Yulman Stadium in the second game to be played on Tulane’s campus this season.