John Curtis downs Shaw for 19th consecutive Catholic League win

NEW ORLEANS – All it took was a half of football for the John Curtis Patriots to do what they’ve done so often in recent years: win against another Catholic league team.

Collin Guggenheim threw 2 touchdowns, the Patriots defense held Shaw to just 54 yards of total offense and John Curtis defeated the Eagles 29-3 to claim their 19^th consecutive win against a fellow Catholic league opponent.

John Curtis (10-0, 6-0) had already claimed their third consecutive Catholic league title and the win Friday night at Yulman stadium moved their record to 21-2 against their district opponents since becoming members of the league 4 years ago. Now the focus moves to claiming their first state championship as a 5A member and winning a 27^th state championship in football.

“I felt we came out and played really well in the first half,” said Patriots head coach J.T. Curtis. “The game got over pretty quick in the second half. Going into the playoffs we want to get healed up a little bit and see how the playoffs develop.”

The Eagles (2-8, 0-6) managed to hold John Curtis scoreless in the second half of play, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Patriots, who outgained Shaw by 225 yards despite calling 8 fewer plays.

“You’ve got to play four quarters to win a playoff game,” said Eagles head coach Tommy Connors. “I’m not satisfied. It’s week 10 so we should come out guns blazing for four quarters. That’s on us but I will say this is a very good John Curtis team.”

The Patriots only needed 2 plays on offense to get on the board as Ma’Khi smith took off blazing for a 57-yard touchdown run just 56 seconds into the game put Curtis up 7-0.

Though the Patriots have long been known for their run game, Guggenheim showed why collegiate teams have shown interest in him on John Curtis’ next two possessions as he found Lance Williams from 13 yards out and August Berry from 11 yards to pick up touchdown passes on consecutive possessions.

Guggenheim was pulled in the 2^nd quarter before briefly returning in the 4^th. Curtis said this was due to strategy rather than injury.

“We had planned to play all three of our quarterback tonight,” he said. “He played a lot of the first half and then got him out and let the other guys finish up the second half. It worked out just how we wanted it to because we got all three of them out there.”

After a 31-yard field goal by Austin McCready the Patriots were back to scoring touchdowns on their next possession with a 45-yard touchdown scamper from Corey Wren to extend the shutout to 29-0.

Patrick Leonard got the Eagles on the board with a 24-yard field goal as the first half expired and that was all the Patriots needed to get yet another Catholic league win and move them into the second season.