Blue Jays visit No. 2 St. Mary’s

After a stunning opening-round win, the St. Edmund Blue Jays will travel to No. 2 St. Mary’s of Natchitoches on Friday.
The District 3-1A champions, St. Mary’s (10-1, 5-0) rolled to a 35-13 win over No. 15 Hanson Memorial.
The Blue Jays, (7-3, 4-0) District 5-1A champions forced three turnovers in the fourth quarter and returned two fumbles for touchdowns to grab a 44-31 win over Metairie Park Country Day.
“It shows if you keep fighting long enough no matter how bad things look, you can change the course of a ball game,” St. Edmund head coach Thomas David said of the win. “We gave up a lot of yards but we stayed close enough long enough to be able to make three plays at the end.”
Cajun running back Jase Griffin finished with 294 yards on 28 carries and scored four times for Country Day.
St. Edmund finished with 241 yards rushing, led by Zach LaFLeur’s 159 yards on 33 carries.
But the Jays had three drives stopped on downs with two others halted by interceptions.
“Offensively we had opportunities where we didn’t make the plays and that kind of put us in the bind we were in late in the game,” the coach said.
Heading into the playoffs, Tiger running back Hunter Bedgood had 155 carries for 1,391 yards and 19 touchdowns.
In the win over Hanson Memorial, Bedgood finished with 208 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
“He is a very physical runner,” David said of Bedgood. “They really want to run the football.
“We need to shore up that side of the ball,” the coach said. “But giving up a lot of yards is not a terrible thing if you can make plays to force turnovers and stop them from scoring.”
The Tigers held Hanson to 250 yards passing, intercepted three passes and allowed only 50 yards rushing.
St. Edmund senior quarterback Drew Brown entered the playoffs with 1,964 yards passing, completing 131-of-250 passes with 22 touchdowns and three interceptions.
Against Country Day, Brown completed 7-of-21 passes for 81 yards including touchdown tosses to Drake Brunet (37 yards) and Cullen Brown (6 yards).
Brown also gained 78 yards on 10 carries with a 3-yard touchdown to seal the win over the Cajuns.
Zach LaFleur had 159 yards on 33 carries with a 16-yard touchdown run along with a 48-yard fumble return against the Cajuns.
“We need to execute on offense and take advantage of what their defense shows us.
“We need to keep fighting,” David said. “We can’t stop playing, just look at last week.”