BATON ROUGE – Catholic High had its homecoming game against East Ascension delayed by a passing storm.

When it finally began, the Bears were a torrent of their own, raining down on the Spartans, beating them 41-6.

Catholic led from start to finish, scoring on its opening drive. Leaning on the ground attack, the Bears went 70 yards in seven plays to take a quick 7-0 lead. Braelen Morgan picked up 49 of those on two carries, including an 11 yard touchdown run.

After the teams exchanged punts, East Ascension had a great opportunity to score on their second drive. A 45 yard completion from Cameron Jones to Steven McBride got the Spartans to the Bears’ 36. Jones then found Jyrin Johnson for 14 more. A 16 yard run by Kendall Washington gave the Spartans the ball with first and goal from the six. But Catholic would hold the line, stopping the Spartans on fourth down.

The Bears opened the second quarter just as they did the first, with another touchdown. This time they took only five plays to go 71 yards. Jackson Thomas hit a wide-open Jalen Toaston down the middle for a 24 yard touchdown. The extra point made it 14-0.

Kylan Dupre added a 33 yard field goal late in the second quarter to put Catholic up 17-0 at the half.

East Ascension broke up the shutout in the third quarter when Jones again hooked up with McBride, this time for a 19 yard touchdown. The Spartans were back in the game, at least momentarily, trailing 17-6.

They wouldn’t score again.

Catholic responded first with a 25 yard field goal to push the lead back to 14. After one drive failed to yield points, the Bears scored touchdowns on each of their next three.

The Bears scored again on their first drive of a quarter to open the fourth. Josh Parker burst through the line, scoring from 44 yards out to make it 27-6, Catholic. On their next drive, George Hart III punched in another TD from five yards out. Landon O’Connor’s three yard touchdown run capped the scoring.

Catholic topped the 32 point margin of last season’s 35-3 road win and tightened their grip on the unofficial title of best team in the state and improved to 6-0 this season.

They’re on the road to take on the McKinley Panthers next week.

East Ascension drops to 4-2 and will try to bounce back when they host Dutchtown.