Two of Class 5A’s premier programs went at it on Wednesday to start the Louisiana high school football preseason in John Curtis and St. Paul’s. Both the Patriots and the Wolves have high aspirations for a deep playoff run this year in Division I Select.
Both teams had success on the ground game early as St. Paul’s relied heavily on the duo of Cody Corales and Troy Willis as Corales broke off a 49 yard touchdown run in the controlled part of the scrimmage while Willis had an impressive 31 yard reception off a screen and even added an interception on defense.
“Both of them bring something different to the table. They both started as sophomores for us. Both are different style runners, but have gotten stronger and bigger. They have been in the program for their third year so certainly we are looking for big things from both of them. I was really pleased with our offensive line. We had to replace four offensive linemen this year. I thought they did a heck of a job against a really good John Curtis defense.”
“On the flip side of it, I thought our defensive line and our linebackers did a fantastic job for them as well.”
St. Paul’s Head Coach Ken Sears
The Patriots also got a couple of scores in during the controlled part of the scrimmage including a pick six when Trey Brown intercepted St. Paul’s QB Brennan Keim, a touchdown run from Kolston Martinez, and a powerful 44 yard touchdown run from Anthony Smith.
During the live action 12 minute quarter, John Curtis went on a typical methodical Curtis 10 play, 70 yard capped off with a quarterback sneak for a touchdown. Replacing a productive quarterback like Dagan Bruno, Coach Curtis was super pleased from what he saw out of new starting senior quarterback Reggie Johnson, especially on that drive.
“I thought he executed the offense as we progressed through. He was a little long on his passes. That’s just a matter of confidence. He’s got to learn to keep pause and make the ball playable for the receiver. That takes time. People can practice all you want, but when you play against a different colored jersey and you get pressure in your face. It’s a whole new level.”
John Curtis Head Coach J.T. Curtis
Overall, it was the John Curtis defense that looked impressive throughout the live action getting a couple of interceptions including on a Hail Mary to ice the 7-0 win during the 12 minute quarter.
“I was pleased with the defense. I really was. We held a couple of guys out of the scrimmage that I thought would help us, but overall, the guys responded well to that. The thing that concerns me is the physicality that they have to play for seven weeks in a row. You got to have some backup players step up and make plays. I thought tonight gave us an opportunity to see that.”
John Curtis Head Coach J.T. Curtis
Coach Curtis is a legend in Louisiana as the winningest coach ever in the state and entering year 55, he still has the same fiery passion for the game when he took over the Patriots football program back in 1969.
“Anytime you are able to watch young people come out and compete and learn the things that you ask them to do, that is fulfilling to me. It’s not about wins and losses. Those things are good. To watch guys grow as young men and to be able to respond in difficult situations, that’s very rewarding to me.”
John Curtis Head Coach J.T. Curtis
St. Paul’s Head Coach Ken Sears knows that they are going to have to go through teams like John Curtis to get to the final destination at the end.
“You can see early on how locked in those guys are and we kind of lost focus. You got to stay locked in for the entire game. That’s something we got to preach to our guys, but lesson learned. I was pleased with the effort and thought we were very physical. We got a lot of it. There is certainly a lot of work going into next week in trying to clean it up.”
St. Paul’s Head Coach Ken Sears
St. Paul’s will have another tough opponent next week for their jamboree against Archbishop Rummel on August 29th while John Curtis will have its jamboree against East Jefferson at Joe Yenni Stadium also on Thursday.
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