Like all good quarterbacks, Catholic High’s Taylor Bullock wouldn’t be as productive as he is without good receivers.

The Panthers’s receiving corps this year is headed by ‘triplets’ Cory Brodie, Thomas Theriot and Devin Boutte. Brodie and Theriot are seniors and Boutte is a junior.

Last week, as Bullock opened the season with a 401-yard effort against Jeanerette, the majority of those yards came from Boutte, who caught six passes for 206 yards and four touchdowns in the 63-24 win over the Tigers.

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But according to Boutte, that might have been more the luck of the draw than anything that was designed.

“Last year I wasn’t in the go-to guy group,” said Boutte. “But this year, Thomas, Cory and I are in the go-to guy group and Taylor picks whoever he wants.

“Most of what I ended up with came from blown coverages by Jeanerette where Taylor reads the defenses and I was open most of the time. I was there at the right moment.”

The right moments included touchdown passes of 49, 23, 24 and 70 yards where Boutte caught the ball on short passes and out ran Jeanerette’s secondary to the end zone.

Brodie and Theriot each had a touchdown reception in the game in addition to the four for Boutte.

That might be the best indicator of the Catholic High quarterback’s attachment to his top three receivers.

“Taylor has a relationship with all the receivers,” said Boutte. “Cory Brodie had seven catches in the game, Thomas had four or five. Everybody gets the ball but we all have a good quarterback-receiver relationship.”

It takes time to develop those types of relationships and Boutte, Bullock, Brodie and Thomas have been together since Boutte’s freshman year. Practicing a lot together really helps in developing that trust between receiver and quarterback, Boutte said.

While Boutte couldn’t give an exact number of hours they have practiced together, he said work for this season started almost as soon as last season ended.

“We discuss routes, we have different audibles, hot routes,” said Boutte. “It just depends on what route we’re running. The coaches tell us what routes we are going to run and sometimes I’m the receiver and other times I just clear out an area for one of the other receivers.”

Catholic High coach Craig Brodie was impressed with Boutte’s performance Friday night.

“He did a good job of getting off defenders,” said the CHS coach. “They played man-to-man coverage and tried to press him and he did a good job of getting open.

“We have certain plays that are designed to go to him and certain plays that are designed to go to Cory and Thomas, it just happened that the ones designed to go to him were the ones that broke open. He had about 600 yards receiving last year and was a first-team All-District performer, which gave him a lot of confidence heading into this year.”

Brodie said that Boutte spent a lot of time this summer at camps and combines which has given him confidence to make big plays.

Boutte and the Catholic High aerial circus takes their show to Erath Thursday night as the former district opponents and longtime rivals meet again. The Bobcats, who have an offense that puts a premium on running the ball and controlling the clock, will do all they can to keep Catholic High’s aerial show on the sidelines, which puts a premium on each possession and each pass.

“We haven’t done a good job of stopping the run so far,” said Brodie. “We can’t let them eat the clock and keep the ball away from us, but it is important that we get points when we have the ball.”

Highland Baptist at New Orleans

After consecutive games against two teams that are the favorites to win the Louisiana Christian School Athletic Association title this year, Highland Baptist starts a three-week stretch this week against teams that are also in their first year of varsity competition.

Thursday, the Bears (1-2) travel to New Orleans to take on the Home School Saints (0-3) at Pan American Stadium.

The Saints haven’t had an easy first three weeks of the season, losing 58-6 to Harvest Time Christian and 38-0 to Acadiana Home School after beating Natchitoches Christian 20-6.

Currently tied for fourth place in the league with Natchitoches Christian, a win by the Bears moves the team back to .500 and puts them back in a position for a top four finish and a berth in the postseason.