Jesuit, a perennial playoff participant from Class 5A, ruined Lakeshore’s inaugural varsity football game, defeating the Titans 64-14 Friday night under the lights at LHS.

Lakeshore, in its second-year of existence, has a roster comprised solely of freshmen, sophomores and juniors and isn’t eligible to compete for postseason honors this year.

“I think it was obvious that Jesuit was much bigger, stronger and more physical then we were,” said Titans coach Larry Route. “They are well coached, and we couldn’t move them off the ball so we could get outside and try to use our speed.” “We will review the film and hit the weights during next week’s practices,” quipped Route.

The Blue Jays went up 37-0 after the first quarter and led 43-0 at halftime, playing four different quarterbacks and a host of running backs. Their kicker Ralph Freibert also consistently recorded touchbacks on several of his kickoffs.

Jesuit scored first less than four minutes into the opening stanza when junior halfback Paul Stanton scored the first of his two touchdowns this one a nine-yard run to put the Jays on top, 7-0, with Freibert perfect on his first five extra-point attempts.

Three minutes later one of the other starting halfbacks, Austin Duncan, tallied the first of his three touchdown runs, this one a seven-yard dash for six and the other two on gallops of 18 and 61 yards, respectively. Duncan led all rushers with 123 yards on the evening.

Things went from bad to worse as on the ensuing series as a snap from center sailed over the head of Titans sophomore quarterback Michael Ball, who did a good job of recovering the ball and surrendering a safety rather than a touchdown.

In all Lakeshore put the ball on the ground five times, losing three of the fumbles and Ball was picked off twice accounting for five turnovers to the Blue Jays one.

“At halftime, I told the kids just keep fighting as if the score was 0-0 and I think we came out and played a much better half,” added Route.

Actually in the second half the score was 21-14 in favor of Jesuit, who had emptied its bench by that point.

Jesuit, which deferred the opening kickoff, started back where they left off in the third period when Duncan scored on his 61-yard burst bringing the total to 50-0 less than a minute into the second half.

Ball, who was coming back from a broken collar bone, connected with the Titans utility player Al Damion Riles on a 54-yard catch and run at the 7:07 mark of the third quarter to put Lakeshore on the board. Sophomore kicker Ian Jones booted the PAT and it was 50-7. Riles also returned punts and kickoffs when he had the opportunity, which were far and few between with Freibert’s booming kicks.

On the ensuing kickoff, Cameron Dobbins, a sophomore utility player for Jesuit returned it 85 yards to extend the Blue Jays lead to 57-7 at the midway mark of the third frame.

Jesuit added to its overwhelming lead when Dante Fly scored the Jays final six on a 10-yard run to start the final quarter and put Jesuit in the win column with a 64-7 lead.

Riles tallied the final touchdown on a 20-yard scoot and with Jones’ kick, the final score was 64-14.

Riles, a junior, led the Titans on offense with 58 rushing yards and 64 receiving yards. Ball garnered 114 passing yards.

Defensively for the Titans Mikal Mazik recovered the Jays lone miscue.

“Their kids played hard just as we did,” said Jesuit coach Wayde Keiser. “They will grow and learn and be a much better team as they mature.”

Lakeshore is off this week. Jesuit resumes its long time rivalry with Holy Cross, which tangled with Slidell on Friday.