September 30, 2022
Chat with Coach Bonis #4: Ouachita Review, Karr Preview
by Brother Neal Golden, S.C. (CJ ’57)
"The Crusaders hit the road again last week, traveling 280 miles to Ouachita Parish High School in Monroe, Louisiana, for the first meeting between the two schools since the 1989 AAAA State Championship game when Ouachita won in the Superdome 35-7 a week after the Crusaders won a thrilling but exhausting three overtime semifinal against Ruston 59-56.
This time, the Crimson and Gold prevailed 38-20 as sophomore Sydney Harris carried the ball an incredible 34 times for 176 yards and two touchdowns. Junior Jordan West added two more touchdowns, the first coming when he caught a short pass across the middle and zipped past the defenders down the sideline to complete the 54-yard score. Later in the game, West scored a second touchdown, this one from the three.
Senior QB Clayton Lonardo, playing with a brace on his leg because of his MCL strain, completed 7 of 11 passes for 100 yards and added a 28-yard scamper as the Crusaders gained 413 yards of total offense, 100 passing and 313 rushing. They converted 12 of 13 third downs.
Coach Mark Bonis says the coaching staff didn’t plan to run Harris so many times. “But that’s the way it turned out. We were shorthanded at running back. Torey Lambert dressed out, but he had limited practice time during the week. Jordan West got dinged up and put the ball on the ground twice. So Sydney had the hot hand. Clayton Lonardo ran some, but we didn’t want to run him inside the tackles because he’s still dinged up.
“Harris really wasn’t tired after that many carries, which is good. We’re hoping to have a full stable of backs this week. We’ve been training some other backs as well. For the first time, we’re healthy at the running back spot. We’ll probably start Harris because he’s had the hot hand. I want to see Torey run around in the pregame. He’s practiced this week and looked good, but he’s not in the same condition he was when he played at St. Paul before the injury. We’ll ease him back into it. We have a long season ahead of us.”
While Bonis was happy with the win at Ouachita, there’s still room for improvement. “We were up 28-0 and had the opportunity to make it a five-score game and take the wind out of their sails. But we put the ball on the ground right before half and allowed them to score to make it 28-6. We held them when they got the ball to start the second half, but then we threw an interception, which led to their second score. So it was 28-13 instead of 35-0. We had the opportunity to finish them off early, but we didn’t take advantage of that opportunity. We can’t win big district games and playoff games unless that changes.”
The next Crusader opponent is the Karr Cougars, who were added to the Catholic League District this season and are now a Select School according to the LHSAA’s revised definition. The Cougars may well be the best team in the state. They started the season with a 56-55 squeaker over fellow Algiers school Landry-Walker. Then they clobbered Scotlandville 42-8 and Warren Easton 67-20. Last week, they pummeled an improved St. Augustine team 49-7.
“They are as good as advertised,” says Coach Bonis. “Their success in previous years and up to this point speaks for itself. They’re good in all three phases of the game with speed everywhere, and they’re coached very well. They have college prospects all over the place. They have two good running backs and a quarterback who started for them two years ago when they lost in the Class 4A finals to Carencro."
“It will be tough to create explosive plays on offense against them. We have to eliminate negative plays and convert first downs and control the clock. That will keep our defense off the field as much as possible. We can’t give up big plays, so they have to work to score."
“To achieve third down success as we did at Ouachita we’ve got to win on first down and eliminate negative plays. In the red zone, we’ve got to score touchdowns to beat them. And being in the plus category in turnovers is the number one thing. We can’t turn the ball over and must cause turnovers."
“The kicking game is very important. We’re asking a lot of our punter and place kicker. They have to be lights out. The margin for error is much smaller against a team like Karr."
“We have to maintain physical toughness but also mental toughness throughout the course of the game."
Come to Behrman Stadium in Algiers tonight to root the Crusaders to victory."
Be sure to join us in support of the Brother Martin football team vs. Karr at Behrman Stadium tonight, September 30th at 7 PM!
