Catholic scores early, tops SHS

• By FRED ALDRICH
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Oct 31, 2009

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On a night that seemed more suited for a slog-it-out ground game, it was the passers and receivers who had a big night as Catholic tripped Scotlandville 25-6 at Scotlandville High School on Friday.

Three different passers connected for big plays in the first half as Catholic (7-2, 4-1 in District 5-5A) drove through the driving rain to a 19-0 halftime lead.

Brad Nelson was on the receiving end of four passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns during that time. On most of his catches he was well-covered, but outmuscled the defense to make the catch.

“I felt like I had the advantage over the defensive back on a wet field,” Nelson said. “I had to use my body and my jumping ability a little more tonight to catch the ball.”

On the Bears’ first possession of the game, Gregory Bellelo lined up in punt formation on fourth down and hit Nelson for a 15-yard gain and a first down.

Blane Arnold later scored on a 4-yard run to stake Catholic to a 6-0 lead.

“I thought that play (the fake punt) was really key,” Catholic coach Dale Weiner said. “We thought it might be there since they come so hard off the edge on the punt block. Greg Bellelo did a great job of selling it, and Brad Nelson made the catch and we were able to take it on down and score.”

Wide receiver Jovhan Jilbert started the next big play, throwing to Brad Nelson for a 41-yard touchdown on the Bears’ second possession.

Quarterback Zack Oliver joined the passing parade with a 25-yard toss to Nelson for the next touchdown. Nathan Neanes was able to punch through a PAT kick and the Bears held a 19-0 lead.

Catholic tried to add a fourth touchdown on the last play of the half on a hook-and-lateral pass from Oliver to Jilbert to Kevin Green, but the Hornets swarmed Green at the Scotlandville 24 as the half ended.

Scotlandville managed to gain some yardage with its ground game, but too many negative yardage plays kept them from mounting any sustained attack.

“That’s been the story for us this year,” Scotlandville coach Donald Green said. “It seems like we’ll have one bad play that sets us back.

“We tried rotating our quarterbacks (Five different players took snaps.), and I though Nick Norman had a good night for us tonight.”