St. Aloysius began the 1936-7 session with the largest enrollment in school history.

• Once again, Brother Martinian, S.C., served as president with Brother Martin, S.C., as Vice President and principal of the school.
• 829 students packed the building at 1137 Esplanade Avenue, an increase of 120. The 240 freshmen made up 25% of the student body. The sophomores numbered 180, the juniors 143, and seniors, 105. The remaining 161 populated the two 7th and two 6th grade homerooms. (There was no eighth grade in Louisiana education in that era.) The increased number of freshmen necessitated the building of an extra classroom in the basement.
• The first issue of The Aloysian broke down the enrollment by church parish. Of the 42 parishes that contributed at least one student, St. Rose led the way with 87 with Holy Rosary a distant second with 57. 47 hailed from Holy Name of Mary in Algiers while St. James Major boasted 44. 21 pupils were non-Catholic.

The school also experienced changes in the athletic arena.

• The transition of school colors from purple and gold to crimson and white, which had begun the previous school year when the basketball team sported new uniforms, was completed. An article in the first Aloysian described the new football togs and explained the significance of the colors.

  The new suits are composed of red pants with a white stripe down the back, red jerseys striped with white, and red helmets. These two colors are most appropriate for they indeed reflect the undying spirit that fills the personality of every Aloysius player. The red of the uniform proclaims the courage, determination, and perseverance with which our boys aim to do at all times the right thing in the right way. The touches of white signify the constant, faithful, and self-sacrificing loyalty to team and school. The white stands also for the good sportsmanship, the hard and fair play so noticeable in the characters of Aloysius players.

• The full changeover to "Crusaders" from "Panthers" did not occur until 1937-8. New uniforms force a color change, but everyone must make a conscious effort to use a new nickname.
  • The Aloysian continued to refer to the athletic teams as Panthers throughout the 1936-7 year.
  • Times-Picayune articles on the football games sometimes referred to St. Aloysius as "Crusaders" as well as "Panthers," "Saints" (an appellation from the 1920s that still applied), and even "Crimson Tide."
• Another headline in that October 7 Aloysian states: "Brother Donald, S.C. Composes A New Song For School"

  When the Panthers strut on the gridiron this year, the crowd and the team will sway to the tune of the new, snappy school song. The composer of both words and music is Brother Donald, a former teacher of St. Aloysius. His love for this school is well known, and although he has been transferred to St. Stanislaus, he leaves as a happy token of his remembrance Δο�½€“ a song, destined to be an inspiration to team and school in all the battles in the field of sports.

  It has a most catchy air which will be the subject of much whistling, humming and singing in days to come. The words are also most appropriate and read thus:

We're going to fight for our Alma Mater, For Aloysius, crimson and white, So stand and cheer 'till the skies resound it; We're going to win over all tonight. The Fighting Panthers are our heroes, For they're the men that never say die. So while the whole gang is here, Let's all stand and cheer, We're Aloysius High! Brother Donald, S.C., composer of the St. Aloysius Fight Song

Turning to football, Sam "Monk" Zelden returned for his third season as head coach.

• After an 0-8 campaign in 1934, the Saints improved to 2-8 in '35. Monk hoped for another increase in victories in '36 (and would achieve that goal).
• He was assisted by Dennis Miller, a native of Eunice LA. The Aloysian had this to say about the new coach, who would be classified today as a volunteer coach since he was not a member of the school faculty.

  While attending Loyola, he stamped himself as one of the greatest backs in Loyola's history Δο�½€“ a vicious tackler, a powerful line plunger, and a great blocking back. ... Miller will be on the field every afternoon scrimmaging, tackling, blocking, and punting.

• Brother Ralph continued to coach the junior (or "second") team while Brother Bernard commanded the 125 lb team and Brother Howard drilled the 85 lb aggregation.

The Picayune's preseason articles on Zelden's squad did not paint an encouraging picture.

• SA returned 11 letterman, but only eight would start.
• For the first two weeks of September, Zelden had only 18 players out for practice, making it impossible to scrimmage. So he and Miller emphasized calisthenics to get in top shape and drilled the youngsters to play more than one position.
• Finally, as the opener with Reserve approached, the roster grew to 24.

Like all prep teams in that era, the Saints would run the traditional single wing offense. The player listed as "quarterback" was in actuality a blocking back. The snap usually went to the tailback 5y behind C. Sometimes it went to the FB lined up next to the TB. The rules still limited substitutions, forcing players to compete on both sides of the ball.

• The Aloysian praised Godchaux Coach Joe Keller for developing "a fighting, spirited squad with plenty of pep. His boys, tackling hard and blocking well, took advantage of their breaks."
• The first half devolved into a punting duel. Finally, in the closing minutes before intermission, Aloysius drove 40y but ran out of time inside the 5.
• Late in Q4, the Panthers again marched, this time 56y to the 2, only to be held on downs. (Apparently, kicking a FG was not an option.)
• Fleet-footed HB Al Noullet repeatedly plowed through the line for most of the visitors' yardage.
  
  

1936 was Joe Keller's third season as head coach at his alma mater, where he had played QB on the school's first team in 1924. He would continue to coach the Wildcats until 1970. In all, Keller compiled a record of 262-73-15 with a state championship in 1958.

Godchaux was eventually merged into East St. John High School, where the team plays its home games at Joe Keller Stadium.

• Q1: After Jimmy Thibaut returned the kickoff from his 10 to the 25, the Saints marched irresistibly to the EZ. Wilbert Hennessey, Noullet, and Thibaut ripped off substantial gains between the tackles to the 10. From there, Noullet skirted E for the TD. Thibaut toed the PAT. The Rocks answered with a drive of their own. Sangerson, Stockton, and Rogers did the brunt of the work. However, a fumble at the 10 ended the threat.
• Q2: The "Red Raiders" (as the Aloysian writer termed the opponent) gained 20 on a pass from Rogers to Fagan. But another fumble on the next play gave Aloysius possession. They marched to the 12, but Thibaut coughed it up, Stockton covering it for SSC. Three plays netted 3y, forcing a punt. Raymond "Pete" Bonanno took the boot on his 15, raced to the 50, where he escaped the clutches of three defenders, and continued the rest of the way to pay dirt. The PAT try failed. (The TP attributes the punt return to Hennessey. The Aloysian would seem to be a better source than a Mississippi correspondent for the TP.) Zelden substituted a new team, which moved the ball to the SSC 36 before the halftime whistle blew.
• Q3: SA received the kickoff again. (SSC may have chosen a goal at the start of the game.) The first team marched from the 20 to the 50. From there, Noullet broke into the open but was caught from behind by Rogers at the 35. A 15y clipping penalty eventually forced "Whitey" McKay to punt. Sangerson received but was dropped in his tracks. On the next play, T Daniel Camp threw Stockton on the 8. Sangerson stepped back to punt but fumbled the ball, picked it up, and swept E for 45y to midfield. But the break led nowhere.
• Q4: In the opening minute, Sangerson blocked McKay's punt on the SA 30. Charles Gele recovered the ball, then fumbled, and Stanislaus recovered. One first down moved the ball to the 20, but Rogers spoiled the chance by fumbling. With only three minutes left, SA mounted another threat. A pass from Thibaut to Eddie Gruber put the pigskin on the SSC 25. Then a bizarre event occurred. According to The Aloysian, when Bonanno tried an end-around lateral to Noullet, the field lights went off. The ball was in the possession of a Rock-a-Chaw when the lights came on. Zelden later remembered the play a little differently.

  We were on the Rock-a-Chaws three-yard line, and as the ball was about to be snapped from center, the lights went out, leaving everything in darkness. A few seconds later, the lights flashed back on again, and you can imagine my reaction when I found that instead of our C having the apple in his possession, as I supposed, he was empty-handed and wild-eyed with surprise. I glanced at our backfield and they didn't have it either. Then I saw a St. Stanislaus man balling-the-jack down the field. I looked closely, and he had the ball. What a shock.

The officials brought the ball back to the line of scrimmage and scolded the player. But Zelden later congratulated him for being alert and on top of the ball. (The Golden Game: When Prep Football Was King in New Orleans, Ron Brocato)

• Q1: Thibaut fumbled the opening kickoff, and St. John Smith recovered for Jesuit on the 28. It took six plays covering 2:55 for the Jays to take the lead. Warren Hauth rammed through LT from the 10 for the score.
• Q2: Another break abetted Jesuit's second score. With the ball on the SA 8, St. John Smith drove off RT only to be driven back by several tacklers. Umpire "Tick" Upton ruled unnecessary roughness even though no part of Smith's body touched the ground. The penalty put the ball on the 1, from where Edmund Bordes drove over RT into the EZ. Smith again kicked the point. Taking the kickoff, the Panthers made their only first down of the half. Noullet passed to Gruber for 12, but the half ended after one more play.
• Q3: Jesuit moved to the SA 20. After two plays failed to gain, Smith passed to Bordes to the 3. Again, the Saints made it difficult, holding on the first two downs. But Smith then tossed to Bordes for the score.
• Q4: SA's D continued to thwart the Jays. For the game, Bordes lost more yards than he gained as "Rock" Roussel, the acting captain for the game, drove through on numerous occasions to smear the ball carriers for losses. But the Saints never posed a threat on offense.

3,000 watched Fortier win the statistical battle but lose the war because of turnovers.

• Q1: SA received the kickoff but failed to make a first down and punted to the 30, where Roussel downed the ball. On the first play, Pershing Cashen fumbled, Camp pouncing on it at the 28. Noullet immediately broke over RT to the EZ. Thibaut's placement was blocked.
• Q2: Roussel picked up what appeared to be a fumble and dashed 59y to the EZ. However, the officials ruled the play an incomplete pass. Fortier mounted its first threat soon afterwards. Thibaut lost a fumble at the Tarpon 45. Cashen then gained 5 before Teddy Frois rambled 27y to the 25. After the Panthers were penalized 5y for offside, the Red and White D threw Frois for a 10y loss. Then Cashen lost 2, and Pat Ryan 4. Cashen tried a pass to Ryan only to have Schopfer intercept at the 25. The half ended shortly afterwards.
• Q3: The Tarps came out roaring. Two passes, a lateral, and a long run moved the ball to the 5. Frois slipped through the line for 4. But the Panther front wall again rose to the occasion, dropping Frois for a 5y loss, then smothering Cashen on a fourth down end run for -2. SA then booted out of danger past midfield to the 44.
• Q4: The game seesawed into the final period. Freshman C Nolan Delatte emerged as the hero for the Esplanade crew when he intercepted a lateral from Ryan intended for Frois and ran 63y down the right sideline for the clinching TD. Along the way, Delatte broke loose from two tacklers. Thibaut toed the PAT.

The Saints threw no passes in the game, the first time in six years that a team tossed no aerials in a prep contest.

• Q1: Pete Burge's squad played the first half "apparently under wraps, saving their stuff for an important game with Istrouma High here this coming weekend." Neither team mounted a serious threat the entire first half. The Bears were hampered by dropped passes from Dicharry and Tony Giganti.
• Q2: The punting duel continued. Schopfer boomed a punt 63y out of bounds on the 1. After CHS booted out, SA drove to the 23 where they had to turn over the ball on downs.
• Q3: The visitors were aided by CHS's loss of Dicharry during the second half. SA forced the Bears back on the strong punting of Schopfer and Noullet. The lone TD of the afternoon was set up when CHS's Foster Murphy shanked a 12y punt to his own 42. After a gain of 2 on first down, sub HB Bonanno passed 20y to Gruber who raced into the EZ. All-State T Marvin Poole blocked Thibaut's placement kick.
• Q4: CHS got a break when Clayton Landry recovered a Saint fumble on the SA 24. Sam Bongiovanni, Tony Giganti, and Bill Robinson, aided by a 5y penalty, toted the pigskin to the 3 before Zelden's D took over on downs. With scant minutes remaining, Schopfer downed the ball behind the goal for a safety on the first play. The move paid off because, after SA kicked off into enemy territory, the Bruins were unable to muster a scoring punch.

Next up were Johnny Brechtel's Eagles, who were 6-0 and unscored on. The Saints were 1-8 against Easton, the victory coming in '32. Seven of the eight losses were by shutout. McKay and Hennessey would not play for Zelden because of injuries.

The 3,000 fans attending the game could follow the Loyola-Ole Miss game at Oxford via loudspeaker reports and the Tulane-Alabama game in Birmingham on the Times-Picayune Grid-O-Graph Δο�½€“ similar to the one pictured at the right. (The New Orleans teams didn't fare well, losing 34-0 and 34-7 respectively.)

• Q1: 4,000 fans watched SA get off to a fumbling start, recovering each of its two bobbles. Schopfer dropped back to punt, but the kick was blocked. "Aloysius recovered and kicked out of bounds on their own 23." The Black and Gold gained only 3 on two plays. Then Winnie Kerth shot a pass to Charlie Koop who made a "splendid catch" on the 2 and stepped across the goal. Koop added the EP from placement (a phrase used to distinguish the boot from a drop kick, which had rapidly fallen out of favor).
• Q2: The teams battled on even terms in the scoreless period.
• Q3: Aloysius came out smoking to take control of the game. Noullet, Hennessey, and Thibaut accounted for four first downs to place the ball on the Commy 5. Hennessey cut through T from there for the six. Wilbert then plunged over for the tying point. After the "Stenogs" (from "Stenographers," another nickname for the business students) failed to gain a first, Schopfer took Cash's punt on his own 17 and returned it to the 45. Hennessey and Noullet advanced the ball to the Commy 41. From there Thibaut broke over T, shook off three would-be tacklers, and bolted into the EZ for the go-ahead TD. Jimmy added the PAT. Commy then started a march that carried over to the next period.
• Q4: With the ball on the SA 10, Kerth fired a pass intended for Koop. But Hennessey snared it on the 3 and "with practically no interference picked his way through the entire Commy team and raced 97y for a TD. It was the most brilliant run seen in prep football this year. The way he zigzagged his way through the Commy team was spectacular." (The Aloysian)

• First half: In the early minutes, Caballero tossed a short pass to Davis who sprinted 68y for a TD. Lacroix booted the PAT. After the kickoff, Thibaut gained a first down. Then Bonanno's pass was intercepted by Davis on his 25. Maggiore ran to the 40, but HC bogged down there, and Caballero punted deep. So the Crusaders punted back out on first down, and Frey fumbled on his 42. SA recovered, then punted to the 1. HC then punted out of danger. Such was the flow of football in 1936. Gruber's pass was intercepted by Crespino on his 35 and returned to the 15. With a chance to go two scores ahead, Frey fumbled to SA on the 10.
• Q3: Early on, Frey broke through and blocked Thibaut's punt on the SA 45, scooped it up, and dashed to the EZ. Lacroix's kick missed. Twice in the quarter, the Saints threatened. Bonanno gained 30 to the HC 35. Then Pete's pass to Stroebel was ruled complete because of interference on the 15. But HC held and took over on downs. The Tigers punted to midfield. Roussel lateralled to Bonanno for 11. Pete passed to Petre for 12, then skirted LE for 15. But again, the Tigers tightened and took the ball back.
• Q4: Bonanno fumbled when tackled, the ball popping into Frey's arms on the HC 35. Iggy made a beautiful run, reversing his field, to the 20. But a 15y penalty wiped away the threat. The game ended with SA in possession after recovering a fumble.

• Q1: After the ball changed hands several times, Behrman recovered Thibaut's bobble on the SA 28. A 15y penalty put the pigskin on the 13. After two plays moved the ball to the 8, a 5y penalty made it first-and-goal at the 3 as the period ended.
• Q2: On the very first play, Warren Beason plunged over T to the EZ. Another line buck for the EP failed. Following the kickoff, it looked as if the Panthers might score. On the first play, Bonanno circled RE for 16. After Pete lost 5, Thibaut passed to Gruber, who made a beautiful catch on the Behrman 19. Thibaut gained 3, but the Bee line, headed by Tom Harvey, smeared the ball carriers for a loss of 12 on the next three plays.
• Q3: The teams battled on even terms throughout the scoreless period.
• Q4: SA mounted a drive, but Beason intercepted Thibaut's heave and raced down the sidelines 52y for the clinching score. The place kick for the PAT was blocked.

The loss dropped Aloysius into a three-way tie for fourth in the prep league with Behrman, and Fortier with 2-4 records.