Rummel-Catholic state title game to air live on 106.1 FM NASH ICON

Rummel, Catholic one more time, listen live at 106.1 FM NASH ICON (Ken Trahan)

It seemed inevitable.

With Archbishop Rummel and Catholic High of Baton Rouge each navigating their challenging schedules in unbeaten fashion in the regular season to earn the top two seeds, the anticipation was clear that they could meet again.

Rummel survived a real scare from St. Augustine while Catholic posted the most impressive victory, shutting out defending Division I champion John Curtis Christian in the semifinals.

The result is a showdown of a pair of 12-0 teams for the Division I state championship Friday night at Yulman Stadium.

You can listen to the game live on 106.1 FM NASH ICON and at nashfm1061.com. Former Rummel athletic director Phil Greco and Matt Sims will join me on the call of the game as part of The Original Prep Football Report.

Ro Brown and Les kick things off at 6 p.m. with previews of all other games going on around Louisiana before the pre-game show kicks in for the championship game at 6:45 p.m. CrescentCitySports.com will provide live score updates all night long on the show and you can hear live reports from all other 11 games from around the state at halftime and after the Division I game ends.

The last three games played between the two rivals have been decided by a field goal. Rummel won 17-14 in Baton Rouge in the regular season in 2014.

In 2015, Catholic won its first-ever state championship on a last second 34-yard field goal by Parker Fontenot to win 31-28.

In 2018, the two powers met in the semifinals at Memorial Stadium and Cole Casenave calmly booted a 36-yard field goal with seven seconds left to give the Bears a 13-10 victory.

Rummel leads the overall series three games to two, including a thrilling 28-21 win for the Raiders in overtime in the state quarterfinals in 2001 in Baton Rouge.

Catholic has been tremendous on offense all season long, averaging 45.2 points per game and 20 different players have scored touchdowns for Gabe Fertitta’s Bears.

Senior quarterback Jackson Thomas has been superb.

Thomas has completed 161-of-221 passes for 2,046 yards and 23 touchdowns with just one interception. He has rushed 83 times for 487 yards and seven touchdowns. Senior Josh Parker has rushed 129 times for 1,109 yards and 13 touchdowns. Senior Jalen Toaston is the top receiver with 34 catches for 654 yards and eight touchdowns.

The Bears defense pitched a shutout against John Curtis, shutting down the vaunted running game of the Patriots in the most impressive defensive effort of the season. Up front, Louisiana Tech commit Connor Finucane is simply outstanding. He had a key fumble recovery in the win over Rummel a year ago and has a pair of interceptions this season. Josha Wax and Connor Stewart each have three interceptions to pace the Catholic secondary.

The Bears are an impressive plus 13 in turnover margin.

While that is outstanding, Rummel is an amazing plus 22 in turnovers and the Raider offense has been impressive most recently, scoring 35 and 37 points in the last two games.

Junior quarterback Kyle Wickersham has completed 129-of-212 passes for 1,595 yards and 17 touchdowns with six interceptions. He has rushed 64 times for 181 yards and four touchdowns.
Junior Logan Diggs is the top runner with 151 carries for 879 yards and seven touchdowns. Diggs also has 24 receptions for 192 yards and two scores. LSU commit Koy Moore is the top receiver with 41 catches for 551 yards and four touchdowns.

Defensively, Rummel allows just 8.8 points per game and has five shutouts.

South Alabama commit Jordan Williams is outstanding at defensive end, linebacker Aaron Thomas, a Southern commitment, leads the team in tackles with 93 tackles. Vanderbilt commit Donovan Kaufman has three interceptions, four forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and has scored twice on defense.

With two excellent teams, there is little reason to believe this game will not end up like the last three meeting, down the wire with a field possibly deciding it. Both teams have excellent kickers in Kylan Dupre of Catholic and Patrick Vanderbrook of Rummel.

“We have a saying in our program that a CurDog loves a good scrap and I fully expect that Rummel
and Catholic High is going to be a real physical, very high level high school football game,” Fertitta said. “When you go out there and watch that game on Friday night, you’re going to see two programs who prepare their kids as well as anybody in the state of Louisiana.”

Fertitta is anxious to get it on.

“We really can’t wait to get out there and test just how good we are against truthfully, probably the best team in the state and the best defense the state has seen in quite some time,” Fertitta said.

Rummel coach Nick Monica returned the compliment to Catholic.

“Their offense has been fabulous, they remind you of the Saints offense with all their personnel groupings, substitution packages, motion, shifts, they have guys all over the place,” Monica said. “We’ve seen them punt 12 times all season. Defensively, they shut out John Curtis which doesn’t happen very often.”

Monica knows it will be a tough contest.

“We have enormous respect for their program and team,” Monica said. “We obviously have a very good team as well but we know we will have to play our best if we want to win.”