Griffins, Bears rivalry renewed

• By ROBIN FAMBROUGH
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: May 9, 2008 - Page: 11C - UPDATED: 12:45 a.m.

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A year ago Catholic High and Dutchtown were district baseball rivals.

Some things have changed, but others are expected to remain the same when the teams square off in the last quarterfinal at the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Class 5A State Baseball Tournament tonight.

“We know a lot of their players from last year and have a lot of respect for Catholic,” Dutchtown coach Chris Schexnayder said. “The games last year were very competitive. I hope this one is just like that.”

Game time is 7 p.m. at A.B. Netterville Field located in North Park at Denham Springs. It will follow Mandeville (19-11) vs. Airline-Bossier City (24-11) at 10 a.m., Barbe-Lake Charles (32-7) vs. Ponchatoula (20-11) at 1 p.m. and Jesuit-New Orleans (24-11) vs. Acadiana (30-6) at 4 p.m.

Because Catholic and Dutchtown are the only two local teams in the tourney, the game is expected to attract plenty of interest. The rout to the playoffs for each team contains some twists and turns.

Catholic’s move to Baton Rouge’s District 5-5A and Dutchtown’s move to the river parishes’ 6-5A are part of the story for the teams who have not played each other since last spring.

First, Catholic (32-6) got a new coach in Kyle Achord, who had a 315-97 record and won seven state titles in 12 seasons for Mississippi Private School Association baseball power Central Private.

In January, Dutchtown (23-15) also got a new coach when Mike Toups, the only head coach in the school’s five-year history, entered private business. Schexnayder, who was Toups’ assistant, stepped in.

A veteran Catholic won the District 5-5A title and posted a gaudy record. Dutchtown struggled early with four new starters, but turned its season around during the second round of 6-5A play.

The Bears are making their first 5A tourney appearance since 2002. Dutchtown is back after losing in the quarterfinals in 2006.

“Dutchtown’s record is misleading,” Achord said. “As far as I’m concerned, they’ve played the toughest schedule of any team in Class 5A. Yes, they’ve lost some games, but you have to look at who they’ve played.

“Even though our records are different, I think the teams are similar. We both can score runs and we both have guys who are capable of hitting it out of the park. And we can both have a couple of solid pitchers.”

Catholic will start either D.J. Ponder (13-0) or Ryan Lewis (7-1), while Dutchtown will counter with Dillon Day (5-4).