Catholic (BR) vs. Acadiana | 10 Championship Eye Catchers

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Catholic (Baton Rouge) jumped on Acadiana quickly, built a 17-point halftime lead and then blew the game open in the second half as the run-heavy Wreckin' Rams struggled to keep pace.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Bears' senior class, led by star quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='139258' first='Daniel' last='Beale'], capped their decorated high school careers with another Division-I Select state championship.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Here are a few more notes on 10 of the biggest eye-catching performers from the contest.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='139258' first='Daniel' last='Beale'] | 6-3, 195 QB | Catholic (2024)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Louisiana (Lafayette) commit finished his decorated high school career with another exceptional performance of 19-for-26 passing for 360 yards and four touchdowns and another score on the ground.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='401737' first='Blaine' last='Bradford'] | 6-2, 190 DB | Catholic (2026)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After missing much of the season, the Bears' highly touted sophomore safety showed flashes of the hard-hitting potential that has made him one of the nation's top prospects in his class. Bradford finished with six tackles, several of which came in explosive fashion and one behind the line of scrimmage.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1221079' first='Dajon' last='Francis'] | 5-8, 175 LB | Acadiana (2025)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"Pop" was among the Wreckin' Rams' leaning tackles with seven, including a couple stops behind the line.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='710087' first='Jonah' last='Gauthier'] | 5-7, 175 RB | Acadiana (2025)</strong> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The junior running back led all players with a game-high 196 yards, including an 82-yard touchdown dash, on 21 carries, for an average of 9.3 yards per attempt. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='915070' first='Cayden' last='Jones'] | 6-1, 180 DB | Catholic (2025)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The junior defensive back finished with three tackles and a leaping interception of a shot downfield that helped Catholic close out the victory. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='710770' first='Cohen' last='LeBlanc'] | 5-10, 185 WR | Catholic (2025)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The junior led all players with seven catches with 121 yards and two touchdowns, 12- and 30-yarders, to help blow the game open. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='421603' first='Dominick' last='McKinley'] | 6-7, 270 DL | Acadiana (2024)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Texas A&amp;M commit recorded a couple tackles, one at the line and one behind it, to highlight his plays on which he managed to quickly slip past Catholic's strong offensive line play and create some disruption.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='139472' first='Barry' last='Remo'] II | 5-9, 185 RB | Catholic (2024)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The senior running back rushed 18 times for 121 yards — an average of 6.7 yard per attempt — and three big touchdowns of 16, 16 and 3 yards </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='546455' first='Erv' last='Smith'] | 6-2, 280 OL | Catholic (Baton Rouge) (2025)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The junior was again a standout on another strong showing by the Bears' offensive line, playing strong and on-balance and moving well out into space on blocks downfield, including one screen play on which he unloaded a particularly explosive block.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='421643' first='Brooks' last='Wright'] | 6-3, 175 WR/DB | Catholic (Baton Rouge) (2024) </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Louisiana (Lafayette)-bound baseball prospect started the game strong with a 57-yard return of the opening kickoff to spark his Bears right off the bat and finished with four catches for 78 yards and two touchdowns and 82 total yards on three kick returns.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->