Brother Martin v. Catholic: Getting to the Sacred Heart of the matter

By Ron Brocato
Clarion Herald Sports Editor

 

A matchup between Brother Martin and Catholic High of Baton Rouge has a special meaning to the Catholic communities of both Division I schools. They are both under the spiritual guidance of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. And they are no strangers to each other.
 

The football histories of the Crusaders vs. Bears goes back to 1929, when a series began between St. Aloysius of New Orleans (which consolidated in 1969 to become Brother Martin) and Catholic for the first time. St. Aloysius’s football program was just eight years old at the time.

That was then, but this is now.

Brother Martin and Catholic will meet again on Friday at Tad Gormley Stadium in the semifinal round of the LHSAA Division I playoffs at 7 p.m. Fresh from a heart-stopping 36-34 win over Jesuit, Brother Martin enters the clash as the No. 1 seed with a 7-0 record. Catholic (6-2) is the No. 3 seed.
 

This game is one of three involving schools from the Archdiocese of New Orleans on Friday at 7 p.m.:

• No. 1 ranked De La Salle (8-0) will host Division II opponent E.D. White at Joe Yenni Stadium.

• And St. Charles Catholic (5-2) will be at home to face Division III foe Notre Dame (7-1).
 

Certainly battle-tested as the Catholic League champion for the first time since 2008, the Crusaders hardly breezed through their District 9-5A schedule. Yet, they remained undefeated through three close calls – beating Jesuit 45-42, Archbishop Rummel, 26-23 and John Curtis, 38-35.

They survived a second confrontation with Jesuit in the regional playoff round with a come-from-behind 36-34 victory, won in the final 49 seconds of the game.
 

Catholic, the 2019 Division I runner-up to Rummel, experienced two defeats during the regular season: to Edna Karr, 34-31, and to St. Thomas More, 39-38. But the Bear proved their mettle in the first playoff round against Rummel when they exacted a measure of revenge by eliminating the defending champion, 42-35, in Baton Rouge.

The two Brothers of the Sacred Heart schools have met three times in the division playoffs. Brother Martin won in 2014 (25-23) and 2016 (28-0) and lost by a scant point in 2015 (49-48). 

The series matching St. Aloysius and Catholic favored the Crusaders as well, with 11 wins against the Bears to four defeats and a tie. One game was deemed a “no-contest” when a Crusader player was deemed ineligible.
 

Catholic has won the Division I title in 2015 and 2017 and was runner-up in 2018 and 2019.

Will this be the Year of the Cavalier?

Since Ryan Manale has become the head coach at De La Salle in 2012, the one-time Catholic League member has enjoyed a renaissance between the hashes. His teams have twice played for division championships (in 2017 and 2019) but failed to garner that last victory. The Cavaliers will take another step forward on Friday when they host E.D. White.

Before Manale took over the football program, De La Salle had experienced minimal success. The Cavaliers made the playoffs in 2003 and again in 2012 but were vanquished in the first round both times. But under the former Rummel assistant coach’s guidance since 2013, Maroon teams have posted an eight-year record of 75 wins and 25 loses, including an unbeaten string of seven entering this playoff round.

True, De La Salle’s district has been rather weak, but the Cavs have beaten winning programs from Catholic-New Iberia, Amite, Lakeshore and St. Charles Catholic. So, this week’s opponent will be another giant step for the Cavaliers toward winning that elusive first state championship.

Hall of Fame program

It’s been often said that Frank Monica is a college-caliber coach who chooses to coach a high school team. The veteran, who, as a member of the 200-plus victory coaching club, was inducted into the LHSAA’s Hall of Fame in 2019, has never had a losing season in running St. Charles Catholic’s program.

He coached the 2011 Comets to a state title over Amite and has elevated the LaPlace school to the division’s runner-up spot four times. On four other occasions, St. Charles advanced as far as the semifinal rounds in either Division II or III.

As the No. 2 seed, the Comets face their sternest test since losing to Newman and De La Salle during the regular season when they host No. 3 Notre Dame. The Pioneers are staples in the division playoffs. Over the decades, they have won six state championships, have been runners-up seven times. Their only loss this year came against the reigning Division III champion and rising power Lafayette Christian, which defeated St. Charles Catholic for the 2019 division title.