From Staff Reports

Patterson and St. James have a history of high scoring exciting games, and Friday’s non-district matchup should stick to the script.

“Both teams have some good athletes who can make big plays,” Patterson head coach Tommy Minton said. “We’ve had some fireworks over the years.”

Patterson (1-1) comes into the game with momentum after beating Central Lafourche, 40-32, last week.

Quarterback Denzel Johnson led the Jacks, throwing for 257 yards and four scores. He was 19-of-26 passing with three touchdown drives in the second half. Johnson also rushed eight times for 74 yards.

“People have to realize that it’s Denzel’s first year starting, he was a linebacker last year, and he’s still picking things up,” Minton said recently. “But he’s doing the things we are asking him to do, and he’s getting better.”

Patterson finished with 19 first downs to Central Lafourche’s nine.

Shelby Lavergne led the Lumberjacks’ rushing attack with 90 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries, while Deondre Skinner was the top receiver with six catches for 86 yards and a touchdown. Daylon Charlot also had five catches for 53 yards and two touchdowns for PHS.

St. James lost to Destrehan last week, 47-8, at home. Destrehan held St. James (0-1) to just 32 yards of total offense.

The Wildcats also lost, 37-0, to Hahnville in the Ed Reed Jamboree.

“They still have good athletes,” Minton said. “They just don’t have the numbers they had in the past, and we have to take advantage of that. The quarterback and wide receiver are both big play guys, but we are better upfront on both sides of the ball.”

The Patterson defense held Central Lafourche to 306 yards (254 rushing and 52 passing) last week after struggling in a week one loss to Crowley.

“We start six sophomores and a freshman on defense,” Minton said following the week 2 victory. “The effort is there, we just have to play, learn and improve every week. Those kids didn’t play on Friday nights last season.”

The longtime coach was satisfied with the improvement.

“We certainly cleaned up some things on both sides of the ball this week,” he said after defeating Central Lafourche. “We just have to continue working hard, and hopefully we will be where we want to be at season’s end.”

Patterson moved up to No. 9 (Class 3A) in the Louisiana Sportswriter’s weekly ranking after last week’s win.

Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. in St. James.

Information from NOLA.com was used in this story.