If there were ever a game that had automatic distractions built in, Catholic High’s homecoming game Friday night against West St. Mary would certainly qualify.

Between all the hoopla surrounding homecoming, quarterback Taylor Bullock battling a case of conjunctivitis and the fact that the Panthers are in a must-win situation for the final three weeks of the season if they want a shot at the District 6-3A title, there was more than enough drama for the Panthers to have a less-than-stellar performance against the Wolfpack.

Any drama lasted a little over three minutes into the first quarter.

(Use arrows above to view more photos) Advertisement

That was how long it took for Catholic High to score on the opening possession of the game as Bullock finished off a seven-play drive with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Thomas Theriot.

It was the first of a record-tying six touchdown passes for Bullock as Catholic High scored 35 first quarter points and beat West St. Mary 70-0 Friday in a record-setting night for the Panthers.

The 70 points is believed to be a new school record besting the 66 points Catholic High scored against Cecilia in a game in the early 70s. Bullock’s six touchdown passes tied the mark he set against Jeanerette in the first week of the season and kicker Grant Quinlan set a record with 10 point after touchdowns, besting by one the nine he kicked against Jeanerette in week one.

“Having all the distractions we had this week certainly played into our preparations,” said Catholic High coach Craig Brodie. “Between powder puff game on Monday, Olympic Games on Tuesday, and this and that and the parade and bonfire and a crazy Friday with school, pep rally and parade and to come back and try to get focused on this football game.

“I thought the kids did a great job of maintaining focus. I told the to have a good time but when your back here stay focused on practice and the game.”

Staying focused against the Wolfpack wasn’t a problem.

The Panthers scored 35 points in the first quarter with Bullock throwing four touchdown passes. West St. Mary had 23 total yards in the quarter.

In addition to the pass to Theriot, Bullock also had touchdown tosses of 24 yards to Devin Boutte and one yard and 10 yards to Corey Brodie and a 14 yard scoring run from Brady Rogers.

“If Taylor has time to throw, I’m not saying that we’re the best team but our offense can be pretty unstoppable,” said Corey Brodie, who had four TD receptions. “We knew that we were playing a down opponent but we also knew that we played pretty sloppy against Franklin and we needed to bounce back with good games tonight and against Berwick and hoping that the last week is the district championship against E.D. White.”

On the other side of the field, nothing went right for the Wolfpack. In seven first-half possessions, West St. Mary either punted the ball away or turned the ball over on a fumble and only crossed midfield once, after a long runback of a Catholic High kickoff. WSM had only 57 total yards in the first half.

“It was a very good Catholic High football team that executed extremely well,” said WSM (0-7, 0-3) Andre Lockley. “We got behind early and we kind of gave up there.

“Against a good football team we didn’t play hard, even with the JV in the game. Are you going to tell the JV not to score? They played hard, we didn’t.”

Catholic High added 21 points in the second quarter to make the score 56-0 at halftime. Brodie put his junior varsity in the game in the second half and played mostly freshman in the final quarter.

Bullock finished the night 19-of-28 for 259 yards despite enduring a mild case of what is commonly known as pink eye all week.

“It wasn’t too bad but it wasn’t enough to keep me from playing,” said Bullock. “It was good to come out and after struggling the last couple of weeks, to get into a rhythm and get the offense going.

“I think that this is what we can do with the offense. The offensive line played well and gave me time (to throw). When the line can do that, the receivers can get open and make plays.”

Bullock also said that while it was hard to keep focus for the game with all the distractions, the team did a great job of putting everything aside when it came to game time.

“This was a district game and it was homecoming. It was a great win,” said Bullock.

Catholic High plays host to Berwick Friday, West St. Mary plays host to Patterson.