St. Aloysius High School began the 1944-5 school year with an enrollment of 963 on a campus built in 1925 for 500.

• Like the other Catholic high schools, Aloysius had refused hundreds of applicants yearly for lack of space.
• So great was the number of students seeking to enter Aloysius, that the administration discontinued the sixth grade. Another factor in the decision was the state's decision to reinstate the eighth grade. So the school now consisted of grades 7-12.
• Over 300 applicants for high school classes were turned away because of lack of space.
• With the Catholic schools bulging at the seams, Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel established the Youth Progress Program to raise money to build more schools. He set a goal of $2,050,000.
• From A Century of Service for the Sacred Heart in the United States by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart 1847-1947, by Brother Macarius, S.C.:

St. Aloysius College is to get a fair share of the proceeds. In anticipation, the Province bought a beautiful piece of property of seven acres, in the growing residential section called Gentilly. A fine school to fit all modern educational requirements, an auditorium, gymnasium and residence will be built there.

The youthful 1943 Crusaders, with only four experienced players, had struggled through a 1-7 season.

• The 40 candidates for 1944 included eight lettermen: Bobby Carroll, Robert Anderson, Lloyd Maestri, Jack Becker, Carol Prats, Narcisse Otillio, Roy Hoffmann, and Joe Catalano.
• The Crusaders boasted two speedy backs in Carroll and Hoffmann. Bobby tipped the scales at 160 while Roy weighed 25 lb less.
• The backfield improved with the addition of basketball-baseball star Ray Breaux, whom Hoffmann talked into going out for football for his senior year. Ray would fill the FB spot. In Carol Hart's TP preview of Aloysius's upcoming season, Ary praised his new FB: He has plenty of natural ability, but lacks actual football experience. Nevertheless, Breaux had already moved up to first string.
• The Crusaders were dealt a blow when 200-pound E Bob Sykes was inducted into the army. Also two players from the '43 team, starting C Jack Hebert and G Warren Mendelsohn, joined the Brothers of the Sacred Heart at their House of Studies in Metuchen NJ.
• On the plus side, Ray Maestri, a sprint champion who attended Aloysius as a freshman before spending a year at St. Paul's in Covington, returned to man the backup TB spot. His younger brother Donald also joined the squad.
• The Saints sported their own version of Mutt and Jeff: 6'3" C "Long John" Cronin and 5'3" G Richard "Man Mountain" Verret.
• Ary scheduled a scrimmage against Tulane's "green shirt eleven" for mid-September. Becker suffered two "shiners" during the fray.

The Crusaders began with two non-league games against sister Brothers of the Sacred Heart schools, Catholic High and St. Stanislaus.

The Morning Advocate article the day of the CHS game said, Word from New Orleans has it that the Crusaders' backfield should be one of the classiest in state football this season.

The Crusaders next hosted the St. Stanislaus Rock-a-Chaws who were returning to the gridiron after a year's absence.

• The Rocks had lost Coach Pete Burge to the navy. Brother Adalbert coached 26 players who came from seven states to attend the boarding school in Bay St. Louis MS: Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, New York, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
• Aloysius ruled as heavy favorites over their young opponent - in more ways than one since the Crimson team outweighed their opposite numbers by seven pounds a man. Coach Ary gave senior Bobby Anderson the nod to replace Carroll at QB.

Using a two-team system in preparation for Jesuit, the Crusaders scored three times in the first period alone The visiting Rock-a-Chaws, "a mere shadow of the old grid machines the Bay school once turned out," (Aloysian) had little success with the heavy Aloysius line. Passes and an end sweep accounted for their three first downs. Ary played the second- and third-stringers more than half the game with sub B Ray Maestri providing the most thrills.

Breaux had scored five TDs in the first two games, all on runs of less than 10y. Hoffmann would kid Ray all year about running the ball into position for Breaux to get the easy 6.

For the fourth straight year, the Crusaders opened league play with the Blue Jays. Could this be the year?

• Aloysius had never defeated Jesuit in 14 previous meetings. A scoreless tie in 1941 was the closest the Crimson came to victory. The Crusaders had never scored more than 12 points in the rivalry.
• However, the TP writer rated the SA line the equal to the Jays and the Crusader backfield "pretty close" to the Blue and White quartet.

On paper, the Jays and Crusaders are more evenly matched this year than ever before. Thus the game looms as a close and interesting contest.

• Gernon Brown's Blue Jays had clobbered Peters 65-6 before losing to Baton Rouge in the Capital City.
• The defending state champions had been hard hit by graduation, with only nine returning lettermen. Brown counted on track star Merlin Remmers who was back for another fling on the gridiron after breaking his leg the previous year. The Jays also lacked the depth they enjoyed in the past. (Brown would use only five subs in the game against 12 for the Crusaders.)

Aloysius Hands Jesuits First Loss in Schools' Rivalry, 25-12

That headline topped N. Charles Wicker's TP article on the game, which attracted the largest crowd of the season to that point - 10,000.

The game was a spectator's game from start to finish with many long runs. There wasn't a dull moment during the 48 minutes and there was plenty of thrilling last minute action as the Crusaders scored their fourth and clinching score.

Before the game, Bobby Carroll arrived on the sideline in a wheelchair to the applause of both sides. The Crusaders vowed to win the game for their fallen leader. However, they started shakily.

Hoffmann ended with an incredible 211y in 17 carries. Jesuit alumnus Hap Glaudi of The Item put the feat in perspective a few days later.

Such high ranking ball carriers as Eddie Price, Ray Arthur, Ray Coates, Ed Fischer, Tony DiBartolo, Johnny Campora, O.J. Key, et al, never topped Hoffmann's figure.

Brother Martin proclaimed the following Monday a full holiday as a token of appreciation for the historic victory. By the end of the season, Jesuit would amass five losses, the most in school history to that point.

Carol Hart wrote in "The Prep Spotlight" for the Picayune:

You've got to hand it to "Chief" Roy Ary and his crew at St. Aloysius that made history when it defeated the Jesuit Blue Jays Friday night. ...
Those Crusaders showed they had what it took. All week long they had radiated an easy-going confidence. They kept this confidence in themselves, even when the going got tough. And they came back in true championship spirit to overcome a two-touchdown lead. ...
The game can be tabbed a true "upset" for few really considered the Crusaders capable of taking their first victory over Jesuit. It was well known that there would be a tough battle, but Aloysius outplayed even its own hopes. ...
Maybe it's just the right tonic to send Aloysius on its way to its most successful gridiron season. We have an idea that from here on out this ball club will be a tough one to beat.
To Coach Roy Ary must go the well deserved credit. Taking over late last season, he saw his team lose nearly every game. He bided his time and was well rewarded for his patience. This one victory will enable him to take a permanent place in the athletic annals of St. Aloysius - and not a grander guy is there than the "Chief," who well rates this position.

Next up for the Crusaders, 3-0 for the first time in school history, were the Fortier Tarpons, who opened with a 7-0 loss to Newman before defeating Peters 14-6.

• The Saints hoped to avoid a letdown and gain revenge on still another opponent that had defeated them the year before.
• The only bad news from the Jesuit game was the loss of Anderson to a knee injury. Ary switched Ray Prats from G to QB, which, in the single wing, was really a blocking back. Louis Barattini took Prats' spot on the starting line.

Hoffmann finished with 106y on 11 carries in less than a half of action.

Breaux led the prep league in scoring with 54 points (8 TDs, 6 PATs), which was also best across the state by 4 points over Wayne Kingery of Lake Charles.

On Friday night, October 20, the Saints traveled to Houma to meet Terrebonne, the only team SA had beaten in 1943. The Picayune included only this one paragraph summary of the game.

St. Aloysius of New Orleans defeated Terrebonne High, 24-6, with a three-touchdown splurge in the second half here tonight. The teams were tied 6-6 at the half and Aloysius won in the second half. Roy Hoffmann scored three touchdowns for the Crusaders and Ray Breaux scored one. Pat Hebert galloped 60 yards on a punt return for the Terrebonne score. Aloysius had 12 first downs, Terrebonne three.

Hoffmann recalls that some Tiger players took the cleats off their shoes, exposing the spike and screw underneath. One of them stepped on his leg and put a big hole in his calf and left a permanent scar. Roy had it sewn up and wrapped for the next game against Easton.

The 5-0 Crusaders joined an elite group of only three other undefeated squads in Louisiana: Fair Park (6-0), Lake Charles (5-0-1), and Baton Rouge (4-0-1).

By scoring only once, Breaux fell behind Baton Rouge's Harrell "Rip" Collins, (future LSU and NFL standout). Looking at the weekly standings, apparently some of the extra points credited to Ray had been transferred to Hoffmann.

Ary's boys now set their sights on defeating Warren Easton for only the second time in 15 games.

• The Eagles' record stood at 2-2, with victories over Terrebonne 38-0 and Peters 54-0 sandwiched between losses to Lake Charles 26-0 and Nicholls 13-6.
• The Saints ruled as slight favorites over Johnny Brechtel's Canal Street aggregation, which had lost the services of its star offensive threat, Tony Indovina, to injury.

Hoffmann was the target of a bounty scheme 75 years before another Saints team allegedly implemented their scheme.

• Roy ran into Provenzano and Indovina at Lenfant's after the game.
• The Eagles told him, "We all put up a dollar to see who could break your leg." The Aloysius star replied, "Nobody won."

The schedule gave the Saints an ideal opponent for bouncing back.

• Cy Hickey's Peters Wildcats had scored only 18 points in five games, all losses.
• The Crusaders were heavily favored to gain revenge against still another of their '43 vanquishers.

• Joe Ernst emerged as the QB to lead the T offense that Lou Brownson installed that season.
• The Tigers boasted a pair of backs who could match the Hoffmann-Breaux tandem: 185-pound captain Rudy Daly and Hillary Chollet, the latter back after missing a year with a knee injury.
• All-Prepper Alvin Brinker anchored the line.
• The TP article on the upcoming game included this paragraph.

The Crusaders should be labeled the hard luck team of the league, for early in the season they lost their starting QB. Now when the Crusaders are in the thick of the fight for the championship they lose starting end, Roland Berges. Berges has been suffering with an ankle injury and may be unable to play Sunday.

The powerful Holy Cross Tigers snowed under another prep league opponent to continue their winning ways, defeating the St. Aloysius Crusaders 46-13 at City Park Stadium, eliminating them from further contention. Thus, the prep league's title race was narrowed down to the only two undefeated teams, Holy Cross and Nicholls.

The largest crowd of the season, 12,742, saw the Tigers jump all over the Crusaders offensively and defensively to salt the game away by halftime.

• The Ninth Ward and, indeed, the entire city was already anticipating the big matchup between the Rebels and Holy Cross November 26.
• The Crusaders could only hope that Buck Seeber's crew would overlook them in anticipation of the de facto championship game the following week, especially since Nicholls could lose to Aloysius and still win their first prep championship by defeating the Tigers.
• The Saints' line would be bolstered by the return of Roland Berges. However, attrition had diminished the depth the Saders boasted at the start of the season. Names like Brenan, Anderson, Albert, Regan, and others who filled out Ary's two platoon system were no longer among the list of substitutes.

Breaux's injury hampered two other Crusader teams, basketball and baseball.

• Ray was considered a pro baseball prospect. He would eventually play in the minors but never make the big leagues.
• Hoffmann felt bad about talking his friend into stepping on the gridiron, but Ray assured Roy in later years that the broken leg didn't harm his baseball career.

The Crusaders had one more game on the schedule.

• The opponent was Notre Dame High in Biloxi MS, in its first season of varsity football.
• However, the Holy Cross brother in charge called Brother Martin to say torrential rain had left their field under water.
• So the game was cancelled to the great disappointment of Hoffmann, who had hoped to win the state scoring title against a team that lost to Holy Cross 81-6 in its opener.
• Ray and Roy would finish third and fourth respectively among New Orleans prep scorers behind Chollet and Daly of Holy Cross.

Glaudi included this item in his November 24 edition of "The Prep Parade."

Louis Barattini, promising starting G on the St. Aloysius eleven, has been rejected for military service and may return to the Crusaders again next season.

Barattini did not play in 1945.

• The New Orleans district committee of the LHSAA had to decide which team would proceed to the state playoffs.
• Brother Martin headed the committee, which included the principals of Holy Cross, Easton, and Peters.
• Two members voted for a rematch while the other two opposed the idea. So Brother Martin called LHSAA president C. L. Madden of Choudrant LA, who voted for the playoff.
• Accordingly, Holy Cross and Nicholls began preparations to play again the following Sunday. However, the next day, Nicholls principal O. Perry Walker withdrew his school from the playoffs.
• So Holy Cross met Baton Rouge for the South Louisiana Championship. The Bulldogs defeated the Tigers 26-19 on their way to the state title.

However, the Tigers' season was not over.

• Holy Cross would play in not one but two "bowl" games.
• On December 8, the Tigers overpowered McComb 28-2 in the 12th annual Toy Bowl at City Park before 18,000 fans.
• Disappointed fans also got the HC-Nicholls rematch they craved in the second annual CYO football classic December 17. The outcome would not change the fact that the Tigers and Rebels shared the prep championship.
• Game Two was another disappointment but in a different way as the Tigers clobbered the Rebels 44-0.

But the defeats to Easton, Holy Cross, and Nicholls by 19, 33, and 15 points put a damper on what had promised to be a championship campaign. Injuries undoubtedly played a role in the decline of the Saints in the second half of the season.

1945 Season

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