VC has Thursday road game against Central Catholic

In order to be the best, you have to beat the best, is the philosophy that Central Catholic head coach Tommy Minton preaches to his players each day.
Thursday, the 4-2 Vermilion Catholic Eagles travel to Morgan City to play the 6-0 Central Catholic Eagles in a huge district contest.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Over the last five years VC Eagles have beaten Central Catholic, which normally resulted in VC winning the district title and Central Catholic settling for second in district.
The last time Central Catholic beat VC was in 2010 (54-42).
“It has become a rivalry because VC is the team to beat,” said Minton. “They have been successful the last few years and have won the district.”
No. 6 ranked Central Catholic and No. 7 ranked Vermilion Catholic both put up a lot of points on the board.
CCHS scored 70 against Ascension Catholic, 64 against Highland Baptist and 50-plus points against three teams. The least amount of points scored is 32 against Class 2A Opelousas Catholic.
VC, on the other hand, has scored 62 against Erath, 54 against Hanson, and 44 against Highland. The least scored was 15 in the loss to Class 3A Kaplan.
Both teams get the job done two different ways.
CCHS likes to run the football, while VC likes to throw.
CCHS’s top rusher is Stefano Guarisco, a 5-foot-8, 165-pound senior. After six games, Guarisco has rushed for 1,356 yards and scored 20 touchdowns. No other CCHS running back has rushed for more than 130 yards.
VC beat CCHS last year 29-22, and Guarisco was held to only 22 yards.
Minton reminded his offensive line all week of how many yards Guarisco ran for last year. Central Catholic returns four linemen from a year ago.
“I have been reminding our linemen all week about last year,” he said. “Our offensive line is going to play a big part.”
CCHS’s offensive line averages a height of 5-11 and a weight of 245-pounds.
Central Catholic can also pass the football if it has to. Quarterback Blake Byrne has completed 29-out-of-49 passes for 611 yards. He has also been intercepted 8 times.
Guarisco has 10 catches for 254 yards and four touchdowns. The other top receiver is Greg Leger (10-329-3 TDs).
Central Catholic’s defense has not been doing too bad. They are giving up an average of 238 yards in total offense and only 60 yards a game is passing yards. They have also never played a team like VC who likes to throw first and then run.
VC comes into the game throwing an average of 340 yards, while only running an average of 92 yards a night.
“They are going to be the best passing team will play so far,” Minton said. “They have four receivers that can get it.”
VC quarterback Hunter Frith leads Class A with 1,882 yards and he’s thrown for 21 touchdowns VC is scoring three touchdowns a game through the air and one TD on the ground.
Receiver Devren Constantine (20 catches, 352 yards) leads VC in touchdown receptions with eight.
Lately, the go-to receiver for VC has been Derouen.
In the last three games, Derouen has been averaging 26 yards a reception. Last week in the 40-39 loss to Ascension Episcopal, Derouen had nine catches for 192 yards. On the year, he is averaging 20 yards a catch. He has 33 catches for 669 yards and five touchdowns.
Payton Trahan (27-334-3) and Emile Trahan (19-416-5) are VC’s other top receivers. Throw in tight end William Noegel (6-85-1) to the mix and now there are six threats.
VC’s running game is made up of Derouen (34-210-4) and Kalix Broussard (56-350-3).