Blue Jays on the road to meet St. Mary’s Tigers

The St. Edmund Blue Jays didn’t get the greatest draw in the Division IV Select School Football Brackets released Nov. 8.
But St. Edmund head coach Thomas David believes that his team will be ready to compete here Friday night when they travel to face the St. Mary’s Tigers in the opening round of the state playoffs.
The 13th-seeded Blue Jays will face the fourth-seeded Tigers in the 16-team bracket, one of four brackets in this year’s Select School Football State Playoffs.
St. Edmund enters the playoffs with a 4-6 record, while the Tigers enter undefeated in 10 games. But Coach David believes that his team can pull off the upset.
“St. Mary’s ran roughshod over their district opponents,” he commented. “They averaged over 42 points a game, while allowing  just over 13 points per game.”
Of St. Mary’s district foes, only North Caddo had a break-even record of 5-5. The combined records of all the other district foes was 8-32, 
“I think we played a tougher schedule and that gives us a decent shot against them,” said David. “We are going to stay with our system and we just need to execute and avoid giving them easy scoring opportunities. I think we’ll be up to the challenge.”
The non-district schedule for the Blue Jays featured games against 3A opponents such as Northwest and Port Barre, both playoff bound, as well as 4A Beau Chene and 2A Opelousas Catholic.
In district play, St. Edmund faced a 9-1 Basile squad and 6-4 Cathoic of Pointe Coupee team, both of whom are playoff bound.
The strength of the Tigers comes from a balanced offense and a senior-dominated defense. “Their quarterback is young but solid and their receiving corps is good,” said David.
The Tigers’ quarterback is Aaron Howell, who ended the regular season with 1,097 yards passing and 20 touchdowns. Howell has completed 66 of 112 attempts with five interceptions. He has also rushed 64 times for 363 yards and seven touchdowns.
Josh Hickman leads the ground attack for the Tigers with 868 yards on 97 carries. He has scored 16 touchdowns.
On defense, Josh Lucky leads the team with 59.5 tackles, including seven sacks and 21 tackles behind the line.
Ryan Cunningham and Donovan Ohnoutka are the Tigers top receivers. Ohnoutka has 19 receptions for 284 yards and six touchdowns. Cunningham has caught 15 passes for 326 yards with nine touchdowns.
Quarterback Drake Brunet leads the St. Edmund lineup with 1,829 passing yards on 131 completions in 223 attempts and 15 touchdowns. Gibson LaFleur has caught 58 passes for 928  yards and five touchdowns.
Gibson LaFleur also leads the Blue Jays in rushing yardage. He has 743 yards on 120 carries and scored 13 touchdowns.