Vermilion Catholic advances to third round of playoffs

Jonathon Dartez knew what he had to do.
As he waited for the kickoff after Westminster Christian Academy took a 10-6 lead in the second quarter after a long touchdown pass, the Vermilion Catholic senior was thinking about how to get the Eagles back into the lead.
“I knew I had to do something, make a play, score a touchdown, something,” Dartez said as he waited for the kick.
And as he has done all four years at VC, Dartez did something unique.
His 60-yard kickoff return set the Eagles up at the WCA 20-yard line, and two plays later, Dartez scored his second rushing touchdown of the night to give the Eagles a 13-10 lead on the way to a 47-17 win over the Crusaders in the second round of the Select Division IV playoffs Friday.
“That’s what he does,” VC coach Broc Prejean said after the Eagles stayed undefeated at 11-0 and advanced to the quarterfinals against No. 8 seed St. Edmund next week. “That’s what he’s done all four years here.”
Dartez did it again and a lot more. The senior rushed for 199 yards and four touchdowns and threw for 84 yards and two more scores, as Vermilion Catholic rallied from a first-half deficit of 3-0 and 10-6 to beat the Crusaders (8-4).
Dartez’s second touchdown run of the night started a 34-point run for the Eagles, who eventually built a 40-10 lead over the Crusaders. The majority of those points came in the second half after VC added another touchdown right before halftime to go into the break with a 20-10 lead.
“Hats off to Westminster,” Prejean said. “We had four possessions in the first half, and they did a good job of limiting our opportunities, and they played a heckuva half, and  I’m proud of the result we showed in the second half.”
The Crusaders did everything possible in the first half to disrupt the Eagles.
A long drive in the first half led to a field goal and a 3-0 lead for WCA, and a long touchdown pass in the second quarter gave the Crusaders a 10-6 lead, but the Eagles kept coming back and eventually pulled ahead for good on Dartez’s second touchdown run on the game in the second quarter.” They executed some plays early and were on fire, and we had to weather that storm,” Prejean said.
The VC coach thought the game’s turning point was later in the second quarter, right before halftime, when Jyrin Bessard scored on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Dartez, giving the Eagles a 20-10 lead going into the break.
“Jy just made a special athletic play to get into the endzone, and going up 20-10 at halftime with us getting the ball to start the second half was big.
“Then executing that first drive of the second half and scoring to go up 27-10 was huge.”
Stephen George led WCA with 200 yards passing and 50 yards rushing, but it wasn’t enough for the 16th-seeded Crusaders, who finally broke the Eagles’ extended point run with a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 40-17. Even then, the Eagles added a final touchdown for the final margin.
“They did a great job tonight,” Prejean said about WCA. “The team we saw in the scrimmage and the team we saw tonight were two different teams,” Prejean said. “Their quarterback made some big-time throws that were tough to defend. I’m proud of our guys for really stepping up and playing hard as we needed to play.”
Now the Eagles turn their attention to the No. 8 St. Ed Blue Jays (10-1), who scored 78 points in their win over St. Martin’s Friday.
“You can’t ignore what the Blue Jays have been doing all year,” Prejean said. “They have been putting up some wild numbers.
“They are going to be a big challenge for us, and they aren’t going to back down. We expect next week to be a war.”
Caleb Guidry carried the pigskin 10 times for 46 yards for VC. Luke McLain had three carries for 37 yards.
Hudson Hebert had three catches for 31 yards and a touchdown. Jyrin Bessard had two catches for 31 yards and a touchdown. Dartez even had two catches for 10 yards.
VC’s Luke McLain returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter.