By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL, Journal Sports
Loyola’s 56-20 win over Red River Friday night at Messmer Stadium amounted to little more than a victory lap for another season filled with offensive fireworks and there were plenty of players lined up at the starting line.
It was a non-district game to close the regular season against the one-win Bulldogs and Job One was to secure a bye in the playoffs and a second-round home game.
Check. So let the fireworks begin.
Start with quarterback Bryce Restovich, who has long since re-written the Loyola passing record book. Nevertheless, he threw for 269 yards to go over 9,000 for his career and now has twice as many touchdown passes (121) as any other Flyer in school history.
Junior Charlie McKenzie, who set the school record for receiving yards in a season last year, now has the school record for receiving yards in a career with 1,937. Appropriately, he set the record on a 37-yard touchdown pass. He is now one TD catch away from the school record for touchdown receptions (30).
It’s not an official record, but senior defensive back Avery Smith’s 73-yard interception return will certainly set the mark for the longest by a Canadian hockey player. Smith, who also plays parttime for the Shreveport Mudbugs, picked off a pass and avoided any high-sticking on his way to the end zone in the first quarter.
“He’s been begging me to let him play running back,” Loyola coach John Sella said. “I wasn’t surprised because I’ve seen what he can do in practice. That made it a two-score game and then we kind of took off after that.”
Smith did, however, incur a celebration penalty in the end zone after the play. “I guess he doesn’t quite understand the football celebration rules,” Sella said.
It was another night of a lot of things that the Flyers have done all year. They scored 28 points in the first quarter while running only eight plays. Running back J.T. Taylor set the tone when he ripped off a 55-yard run on the first play of the game. Taylor had 125 yards on just six carries.
“JT is finally looking about 100 percent now and is understanding the position,” Sella said. “He’s seeing it really well, and he’s not just running into people now, he’s running away from people. Because we’ve seen four or five different defenses over the season, and the offensive line understands everything now.”
The Flyers, who haven’t punted since October 2, scored on their first eight possessions and went over the 50-point mark for the sixth time this year. The highlight play of the night came on the final play of the first half when Restovich scrambled away from a sack and threw a Hail Mary. There were 10 players in the end zone but somehow the 5-foot-8 McKenzie came up with it.
“Offensively, we keep doing what we’ve been doing all year,” Sella said.
With the regular season now over with a 7-3 record, Loyola is a No. 8 seed in the Division III (Select) playoffs. The good news is that the Flyers have earned a bye and a week off, but it’s likely that their second-round playoff will be against No. 9 Dunham, which features the No. 1 recruit in the state in quarterback Elijah Haven (an Alabama commit).
“I like the way our defense is playing right now,” Sella said. “I know we gave up 20 (points), but the way we’re running to the football is what I like right now. Offensively, we were pretty sharp from the beginning.”
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com