Staff Report

PATTERSON — They may have been the last team in the area to kick off their season, but the Patterson High School Lumberjacks sure didn’t disappoint with their initial performance of the season Thursday with a 73-23 victory against Jeanerette.

Patterson put up an impressive defensive performance as the homestanding squad held Jeanerette to less than 10 points in all but the second quarter and held them under five points in two quarters, including a 29-3 third-quarter scoring advantage.

“I was very pleased with the effort we played with,” Patterson coach Ryan Taylor said. “Anytime you can hold your opponent to scoring under 10 points in a quarter you are playing good defense, and we were able to do (that) for three quarters. We made some mistakes, but that was expected with it being our first game. But we didn’t hang our head or pout. The guys did a great job of moving on and playing the possession.”

Three Lumberjacks reached double figures, topped by Denzel Johnson’s 14 points. Deondre Skinner and Nehemiah Augustus each added 11 points.

Other top Patterson contributors included Jedrick Gunner, eight; Malik Garrett, six; Dontrell Benjamin and Mykel Jones, five points apiece; DJ Jones, four; and Taylan Grogan, three.

“We have a talented group but we are young, so we will have growing pains,” Taylor said. “We must continue to play hard to overcome the mistakes we make. I was pleased with the way every player played.”

The Lumberjacks (1-0) will return to action Thursday when they open play in the Lumberjack Invitational against Loreauville.

Central Catholic

defeats Thibodaux

Central Catholic improved to 2-0 on the season with a 55-44 victory against Thibodaux at home Thursday.

Four Central Catholic players reached double figures in the victory, led by Josh Singleton’s 19 points. Dontrell Brown, Tyler Hoffpauir and Nicholas Case each added 10 in the victory as well.

Central Catholic will return to action Thursday in Patterson’s Lumberjack Invitational against J.S. Clark.