10 eye-catchers from Catholic (BR) vs. Destrehan season opener

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Heavy rain and drama started steadily and only continued to mount Friday as two of Louisiana's top programs and once-again title-hopefuls traded leads throughout their heavy anticipated season opener.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Home-standing Destrehan controlled the game early, answered the initial surge from defending Division-I Select champion Catholic (Baton Rouge) and led once again in the fourth quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>But, as the final three minutes wound, the visiting Bears got the last opportunity and capitalized with an epic game-winning drive from a razor-thin fourth-down conversion to an empathic touchdown run by an emerging young standout to escape with the 23-20 win.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Here's a look at 10 of the top eye-catchers from the contest.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJGryq3LzRM","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJGryq3LzRM </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='739720' first='Jayden' last='Miles'] — 6-2, 205 RB — Catholic (2027)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In his first varsity start, the Bears' budding-star running back was already a playmaker his coaches trusted over and over again as a spark and a steadying presence early when a slippery ball was helping stall the offense in the rain and late with the game on the line. Miles finished with 129 yards on 25 carries from a mixture of tailback and wildcat quarterback snaps and his team's first and last touchdowns to highlight the victory.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1602055' first='Baylor' last='Graves'] — 6-0, 180 QB — Catholic (2026)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The storms rolling through south Louisiana drastically ramped up the degree of difficulty for the Bears' new starting quarterback, already filling big shoes at the position and facing another of the state's top teams. But once Graves worked through some early difficulty keeping a handle on the wet football, he make pivotal plays with both his arm and his legs to help earn a victory in his first start — including tough goal-line runs for a touchdown and a two-point conversion and a long pass to the sideline late to set up Miles' game-winning score.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='546455' first='Erv' last='Smith'] — 6-2, 285 OL — Catholic (2025)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In addition to his help blocking for Miles, Graves and company, the Louisiana Tech-committed offensive lineman also joined them as the trio of Bears to reach the end zone. Following Miles' first touchdown, Smith took a snap, turned and powered through contact from two defenders to the right side of the formation and over the goal line for two points. The conversion helped kick off his birthday weekend with his first score since youth ball. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1345158' first='Blaise' last='Thomassie'] — 6-5, 265 OL — Catholic (2026)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Bears reached the end zone on five plays — three touchdowns and a pair of two-point conversions — and their star junior tackle won his blocks on each of the plays, including three running behind him, twice to his natural left tackle spot and once working on the other side at right tackle. The scoring plays served as an anecdotal highlight to the strong performance overall by Thomassie to help lead the Catholic ground game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='401737' first='Blaine' last='Bradford'] — 6-2, 205 DB — Catholic (2026)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The junior safety's explosive physicality was on display early and often covering ground in a hurry with his 4.4-second 40-yard speed and arriving violently for hard-hitting stops in run support and jarring break-ups in coverage. Bradford helped set that sort of tone for the Bears' defense as a whole.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='740987' first='Cayden' last='Jones'] — 6-0, 190 DB — Catholic (2025)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Bradford brothers heading the Catholic secondary, but Jacob's fellow senior corner is another key leader and playmaker for the defense which looks to be once again stout in 2024. Jones got beat on an early play in the rain, but bounced back to allow little else the rest of the way, including a pass breakup in the end zone, and helped in run support with two tackles and a forced fumble. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='401763' first='Jackson' last='Fields'] — 6-1, 195 QB — Destrehan (2026)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Despite the inclement conditions, the Wildcats came out the gates consistently trusting their junior quarterback to handle the ball cleanly and get it quickly to his perimeter playmakers from a particularly effective screen game to some more intermediate routes and even a deep touchdown pass downfield to build an early 14-0 lead. The connections (understandably) weren't always perfect, but were eye-catching under the circumstances to start out aggressively and play from ahead. Fields later added a go-ahead goal-line keeper late in the third quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='710272' first='Jhase' last='Thomas'] — 6-2, 170 DB — Destrehan (2025)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The LSU-committed safety had his night end early, but made his presence felt in the time he had before getting banged up. Thomas flew around on defense, as usual, and also helped kick off the scoring with a wildcat quarterback snap he bounced outside and speeding up the sideline for a 22-yard touchdown dash. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='212340' first='Jabari' last='Mack'] — 6-0, 185 WR/ATH — Destrehan (2026)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The highly touted junior prospect was a go-to target for Fields from the aforementioned screens not the nearly 60-yard touchdown strike in the first quarter and also racked up chunks of rushing yardage on wildcat snaps expected to be a part of the Wildcats' offense throughout the season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='291153' first='Johnnie' last='Thiel IV'] — 6-0, 180 WR/DB — Destrehan (2025)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Another of the leaders of the loaded Destrehan receiving corps that Fields got involved early, the versatile Louisiana Tech-committed athlete also took on a heavier role on defense after the injury to Thomas as Thiel worked at safety and was active in the box helping fly around in run support.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->