The second day of the Red Stick Rumble Jamboree featured four of the top programs in the Baton Rouge area. The first matchup featured the U-High Cubs and the Dunham Tigers while the second game headlined Catholic High School and Madison Prep.
U-High 21, Dunham 18
The first game featured not only two of the best teams, but two of the best quarterbacks in Louisiana in U-High 2025 four star quarterback Emile Picarella and Dunham 2027 QB Elijah Haven, who is the number one player in the country for his recruiting class. The matchup between the two did not disappoint.
First, it was Picarella and company that struck first as the senior Cubs quarterback threw a 64 yard bomb to Lawson Dixon, which later set up a short touchdown run from Sage Ingram to put the Cubs up 7-0.
U-High’s offense answered again after taking advantage of short field position as Picarella threw a six yard fade for a touchdown to his big tight end Trushaad Bush to put the Cubs in command 14-0.
However, the Tigers were not going to go down without a fight. On the last play of the first half, Elijah Haven made some magic by scrambling to his left and finding Trevor Haman for a last second touchdown to give the Tigers some momentum going into halftime down 14-6.
The Tigers took advantage of that momentum and scored to start the second half as Haven found Bronson Bonneval for the score to pull within two at 14-12.
The Tigers got hold of the momentum after Richard Montgomery picked off Picarella to give the ball right back to the Tigers. Haven took advantage as he fired deep and found Jarvis Washington deep for a 64 yard touchdown to give the Tigers their first lead of the game at 18-14.
After giving up 18 unanswered points, the U-High Cubs relied heavily on their offensive line, two running backs Sage Ingram and Corbin Odell, and also, their number one receiver in Southeastern commit Zay Martin to give the Cubs a late lead. Picarella threw his second touchdown when he found Martin on a screen and took it down the sidelines for a game winning touchdown over Dunham 21-18.
Picarella finished the game completing 5 of 8 passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.
“I thought Emile, who threw a pick on the one throw before that drive, did a great job. He is such a veteran guy. He comes in cool as a cucumber throwing the football and running the football. He does a great job.”
U-High Head Coach Andy Martin
On the other side, Haven showed why he is one of the nation’s most sought after young quarterbacks in America by completing 14 of 25 passes for 263 yards and three touchdowns.
“He is a good player. We saw it last year. He’s a heck of a player and he’s still young. He still has a lot of room to grow, but he is going to do a lot of good things for Dunham this year.”
U-High Head Coach Andy Martin
With a veteran offensive line, the Cubs showed that even with a four star quarterback and talented receivers that this is still a run first offense. The duo of Ingram and Ordell combined to rush for 155 yards and one touchdown on 20 carries.
“They (offensive line) does a great job and then, you throw in the wide receivers that are very dangerous and with Emile making great decisions tonight, I am excited for them.”
U-High Head Coach Andy Martin
The U-High Cubs will kickoff their season against Woodlawn next Friday while the Dunham Tigers will kickoff their season against Parkview Baptist.
Catholic High 23, Madison Prep 0
After losing perhaps its greatest quarterback in program history in Daniel Beale, who is now playing quarterback for the Ragin’ Cajuns, the Catholic High Bears wanted to show off its strengths heading into the 2024 year, which is their physicality. That showed in their jamboree matchup against the Madison Prep Chargers.
“They have been practicing that way for a long time. It is good to see them put it on the tape for somebody else. Every year, you got to learn your identity as a football team. The earlier you start understanding that the better.”
Catholic Head Coach Hudson Fuller
Defensively, led by Blaine and Jacob Bradford made it tough for Tylan Johnson and the Chargers offense as the usually explosive Madison Prep offense was held scoreless and to only 67 total yards and four first downs.
Offensively, the Bears used a quarterback by committee approach as Baylor Graves came in as the throwing quarterback while Turner Goldsmith came in as the running package quarterback. The two complemented each other quite nicely in running the Bears offense as Graves finished the game completing 9 of 13 passes for 96 yards and Goldsmith had five carries for 56 yards and a touchdown.
“We are fortunate to say that we have two varsity level quarterbacks and we have two young guys that are only sophomores. It is just a testament to their development. The thing about it is that both guys played tonight and have skills on both sides. It’s not like one’s a passer and one’s a rusher. They both can execute in the run game and can throw when they need to.”
Catholic Head Coach Hudson Fuller
The Bears took a 7-0 lead at halftime thanks to Goldsmith’s 13 yard touchdown run, but immediately set the tone in the second half with the third phase of the game, which is special teams. Cohen Leblanc returned the second half kickoff 89 yards for the score to give the Bears a 14-0 lead.
“We want to play complementary football and want it to all tie together. Special teams is very important to us. Our best players are going to play on special teams and they take a lot of pride in that.”
Catholic Head Coach Hudson Fuller
The Bears closed out the scoring with a 38 yard field goal from Sean Perret and a one yard touchdown run from Jeremy Fisher after the defense got an interception from Cayden Jones to seal a shutout 23-0 victory over the Chargers.
“That’s the aggressive style of play we are looking for. It is great to see Blaine Bradford out there and be healthy. He’s just a football player. You can put him at any position and he will be successful. His explosiveness really showed up tonight.”
Catholic Head Coach Hudson Fuller
Catholic High starts the season next Friday against one of the top 5A programs in the Destrehan Wildcats while Madison Prep will kickoff the season next Friday against Dutchtown.
Major shoutout to Alex Allison for the stats and Deon Barrow and Isharay Jones for the highlights!
Check out Jace’s high school football coverage all season long!
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