New Iberia Senior High forced six turnovers in beating Tara 41-6, Taylor Bullock set what is believed to be a school passing record in Catholic High’s 63-24 win over Jeanerette and Erath ran the ball down Berwick’s throat to give Destin Dieterich a 28-12 win in his coaching debut at the school as Teche Area football teams opened the 2009 football slate Friday night.

In other games involving area teams, Ascension Catholic made several big plays to beat Hanson 35-6; Kaplan got three returns for touchdowns in romping past West St. Mary 61-7; Delcambre got four touchdowns from Trey Landry in beating False River 39-14; Kip Carter rushed for 114 yards and three touchdowns as Sam Houston beat St. Martinville 41-0; Welsh rushed for more than 400 yards, overcoming three touchdowns by B.J. Greene to beat Loreauville 56-27; and Central Catholic beat Franklin 41-7.

On Thursday night, it was Westgate defeating Breaux Bridge, ranked second in Class 4A, 29-21; and Breaux Bridge Christian beating Highland Baptist, 61-6.

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New Iberia 41, Tara 6

New Iberia recovered five of Tara’s seven fumbles, all leading to touchdowns, including a 58-yard fumble return for a score by Kendale Thomas.

Quarterback Jordy Joseph completed 12 of 15 pass attempts for 172 yards and four touchdowns, two of them to Kyle Lamothe, who also recovered two of Tara’s fumbles. Zane Migues and Jontrae Rhoades also had touchdown catches, while Desarie Sam ran for 98 yards, Velot Khammany rushed for 58 and Tevin Archon ran for 49 and a TD.

Dalario Austin also had two fumble recoveries, while Brennan Benson and Markus Daniels recovered one each.

“We’re really stressing running to the ball and getting all 11 hats to the ball,” said Lamothe. “We’ve done a good job of giving a good effort.”

Devin Boudreaux also intercepted a pass for the Yellow Jackets, who travel to Shreveport next week to face Byrd.

Catholic High 63, Jeanerette 24

JEANERETTE -- Bullock, who has committed to sign a scholarship with Tulane, set a new school record by completing 21 of 31 passes for 401 yards and six touchdowns, connecting on seven straight passes to start the game and surpassing 200 yards by halftime.

Devin Boutte was the recipient of most of the passes with six catches for 211 yards and four touchdowns.

Catholic High led 21-12 at the end of the first quarter, 42-12 at halftme and 49-24 at the end of the third quarter.

Despite trailing for most of the night, Jeanerette never gave up.

Anthony Williams rushed for 154 yards and two touchdowns and the Tigers had an 89-yard fumble return for a score from Chris Caesar and a 79-yard touchdown pass from Kendell Charles to Caesar.

But the story of the night was Bullock, who threw touchdown passes of 49, 23, 3, 24, 70 and 5 yards as Catholic High opened the regular season with a win.

The Panthers travel to Erath Thursday. Jeanerette plays host to West St. Mary Friday.

Erath 28, Berwick 12

ERATH -- Erath’s Bobcats took advantage of everything Berwick High School gave them, and more, to give Dieterich a nondistrict victory in the regular-season opener for both teams Friday.

Erath, riding the legs of fullback Tyler Verret in the first two quarters to surge to a 21-0 halftime lead, held on in the second half to turn back the Panthers. Berwick turned the ball over four times, three times on fumbles.

The Bobcats fed the visitors’ defense a steady dose of tailback Dason Bernard to grind it out down the stretch.

“We just tried running the ball down at the end. You get tired but you’ve just got to keep pushing,” Bernard said after emerging as the game’s leading rusher with 20 carries for 74 yards.

He took over the rushing load for Verret, who the team needed on every snap at linebacker, Dieterich said. Verret scored the game’s first two touchdowns on runs of 38 and four yards as Erath went ahead 14-0. Then the Bobcats’ Chris Tyler alertly picked up a quarterback Jude Cessac fumble deep in the backfield with Erath threatening and turned it into a 10-yard touchdown run, to make it 21-0 courtesy of three PATs from lefty placekicker Mikey Seymour.

Bernard got into the scoring act in the fourth quarter on a two-yard touchdown pass from Cessac, a junior pressed into service due to illness and injury to regular starter and senior Jake Renard.

“He (Cessac) made a big improvement from last week, no doubt, and a huge improvement from the scrimmage,” Dieterich said.

Berwick’s scores came on Austin Thibodeaux’s 10-yard run in the third quarter and Keifer Sanders’ 2-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Erath’s next opponent is Catholic High School.

Ascension Catholic 35, Hanson 6

FRANKLIN -- Ascension Catholic showed the speed during warmups to break several long runs, and that’s what happened in the first half as Myron Dominique returned a punt 65 yards for a score and got another TD on a 50-yard pass play. An interception return for a TD and a TD pass from quarterback Charles Caballero made it 28-0 at halftime.

Charles Uze scored on a five-yard run in the fourth quarter for Hanson, which plays at Loreauville next week.