Jays soar past Hurricanes

In their best performance of the season, St. Edmund cruised to a 56-0 homecoming win over North Central.
The Blue Jays (4-3, 2-0) outgained the Hurricanes (1-6, 0-2) 432-81 while recording their second shutout of the season.
“I think this was our cleanest first half all season,” St. Edmund head Thomas David said. “I was real pleased with our effort early in the game which set us up to be successful.”
The St. Edmund defense stood tall early in the contest when Noah Clause recovered a Hurricane fumble at the North Central 37.
It took just four plays for the Blue Jays to score when Drew Brown connected with Drake Brunet for a 21-yard pass.
The two-point conversion pass failed as the Jays led 6-0 with 8:53 left in the first period.
After forcing a Hurricane punt, the Blue Jays moved 60 yards in nine plays for their second score.
With several key runs by Zach LaFleur, Drew Brown capped the drive with a 1-yard run.
Brown connected with LaFLeur for the two-point conversion to give the Jays a 14-0 lead with 4:47 left in the opening quarter.
North Central moved to the Blue 25 before the drive stalled on fourth down.
St. Edmund moved 75 yards in 12 plays, aided by a 14 yard catch by William Chachere and a 12-yard run by Alex Hunt.
On the first play of the second period, Ross LaFleur scored on a five-yard run with 11:56 left before intermission.
Brown and LaFleur connected for the two-point conversion as the Jays pushed ahead 22-0.
In the ensuing Hurricane possession, Austin Sittig first sacked North Central quarterback Drahcir Duplechain and next picked off his pass and returned it 21 yards to the 15.
Brown quickly raced 15 yards to the end zone. Brown found Hunt open in the end zone for the two-point conversion to put the Jays ahead, 30-0 with 9:50 left before halftime.
After a punt, the North Central defense recovered a Blue Jay miscue at the St. Edmund 6.
But the Blue Jay defense stiffened and pushed the Hurricanes back to the 20 including an incomplete pass into the end zone on fourth down.
St. Edmund advanced 80 yards in just seven plays, capped by a 30-yard touchdown run by Andrew Hunt on pitch from Brown.
The two-point conversion pass attempt failed as the Blue Jays led 36-0 with 2:07 left in the second period.
After a strong punt return by Brown to move the Jays to the North Central 35, it took just two offensive plays to get to the end zone.
LaFleur gained 16 yards and Chachere went the final 19 to score with 14 seconds left in the half.
Alex Hunt kicked the PAT as the Jays led, 43-0 at the break.
After senior Heather Bieber was crowned homecoming queen, the Blue Jays took the opening possession of the third quarter and went 89 yards in 10 plays for their next score.
After five runs by LaFleur, Brown connected with Austin Sittig for a 30-yard play.
Two plays later, LaFleur scored on a 13-yard run and Hunt’s PAT gave the Jays a 50-0 lead with 3:23 left in the third period.
The St. Edmund defense stopped the Hurricanes on fourth-and-three at the North Central 40.
Five straight runs by Murphy Richard moved the ball to the Hurricane 10, where Chachere ran it to the end zone.
The two-point conversion failed but the Jays led 56-0 with 4:33 left in the game.
North Central seemed poised to avoid the shutout on their final drive of the contest as the Hurricanes passed their wat to the Blue Jay 23.
But Chachere picked off Duplechain in the end zone as time expired to seal the win.
Zach LaFleur led the Blue Jays with 122 yards on 16 carries, while Brown completed 6-of-13 passes for 99 yards.
St. Edmund has an open date this week before entertaining False River Academy on Oct. 31.