Catholic has monopoly on Baton Rouge talent

Imagine, if you will, placing  all the best athletes from Jesuit, Brother Martin, Holy Cross and St. Augustine into one Orleans Parish Catholic school. And maybe add a few gifted athletes from De La Salle for good measure.

The move would create a sports dynasty.

Well, that’s what happened  in Baton Rouge when the Brothers of the Sacred Heart created Catholic High in 1929, an Adam’s rib of sorts, from the former St. Vincent Academy.

While New Orleans’ large Catholic population has several parochial schools from which to choose, male Catholic student-athletes in the capital city have just one high school in the state’s highest classification – and that is Catholic High.

And its sports program, which identifies its mascot as the Bears, has indeed been dynastic, having won 112 state championships in its 13 varsity sports, with 92 runners-up trophies and 426 district titles.

Its district includes Liberty (formerly Lee High), Central, Scotlandville, Woodlawn and Zachary – all public schools.

By contrast, the four Class 5A New Orleans Catholic schools compete against each other in a shared district.

In this school year alone, Catholic has won swimming,  bowling, indoor track, golf and, just a week ago, its 20th outdoor track state title.

And, following a successful baseball season in which the Bears earned the No. 1 seed, they will face Brother Martin for the state championship in a best-of-three series in Sulphur May 15-17.

’Saders no pushovers

Brother Martin won its ninth district baseball title and second in three years in a competitive district over the likes of Jesuit (22 district titles), Rummel (14), Holy Cross (6) and John Curtis (4 since joining the district in 2013).

And while Catholic High (with a 35-5 record this season) will try for its fifth baseball gold trophy as the reigning champion, the Crusaders (31-6) seek their third, having won in 1996 and 1984.

Do they have the ability to upset the top seed? I can see it happening.

Brother Martin eliminated a very solid Holy Cross team over a three-game, two-day period, which the No. 2 Tigers hosted.

The Crusaders had defeated the Tigers, 7-1 and 5-0, in district play, but by power rankings, Holy Cross was the higher seed in the playoffs.

After sweeping Pineville and Ponchatoula in earlier rounds, Martin held their two opponents to just five runs in four games.

The first semifinal round game was a 7-4 offensive show won by the Crusaders at Holy Cross.

Overnight rain made the Holy Cross field unplayable despite a tarp that John Curtis loaned to the school to protect the infield. The games were moved to Wesley Barrow Stadium, where Tiger pitcher Matthew Watson evened the series by throwing a 1-0 no-hitter, before Martin rallied to take the deciding game in an astounding 8-0 rout.

E.D. White eliminated Archbishop Hannan in two games to advance in the Division II playoffs and Pope John Paul II fell to University High in the Division III semifinal round. 

One point from a title

Catholic High took advantage of Jesuit not having qualified its 4x400-meter relay team in the final event of the state outdoor track and field championships at LSU on May 10.

Jesuit, whose forte was its distance runners, held a precarious nine-point lead over Catholic. But without an entry in the closing event, Jesuit fell one-point short of its long-awaited first track of the millennium.

Catholic won the event and the 10 points needed to edge Jesuit, 61-60, and sweep both the indoor and outdoor Class 5A team titles.

But there were several stellar performances by entrants from the archdiocese:

• Jesuit’s Ja’ir Burks, ran the fastest 110-meter hurdles by a local athlete when he covered the distance in 13.62 to erase the 13.64 by former leader Justin Horne of Curtis. 
• Burks also won the 300-meter hurdles with the fifth-fastest time of 38.18.
• Holy Cross’ Josh Brown (10.27) edged Brother Martin’s

Easton Royal (10.40) for the gold medal in the 100-meter dash. Brown also ran the fastest 200 meters with a winning time of 20.43, and anchored the Tigers’ victorious 4x100-meter relay team with Jabaree Monday, Finn Martin and Ke’Rynn Smith. Their time of 40.87 was the third-fastest run in the three-parish area.

Brown’s performance in the 200 places him ahead of Edna Karr’s Rahji Dennis, who recorded a 20.89 in 2022, and East Jefferson’s Harlan Davis, whose 20.9 (1985) held as the No. 1 time for 37 years.

Holy Cross placed fifth in the team standings.

De La Salle was also fifth in the Class 3A division.

• Jesuit’s Brandt Blanchard won the 800-meter run in 1:52.58 and teammate Brady Mullen bounced back from a second-place finish in the 1,600-meter run to win at 3,200 meters in 9:09.68. But he fell short of his 2024 composite record 8:48.36.
• Catalina Reichard finished her high school career by scoring 18 individual points for fifth-place Mount Carmel. She finished first in the 3,200-meter run in 10:59.80 (short of her record 10:58.38 set in the 2023 state meet).