Clarion Herald 2020 Elite Football Team

By Ron Brocato
Sports Editor

For local Catholic schools struggling to survive a fall of pandemic interruptions, the 2020 football season did not produce an LHSAA division champion.

It did, however, give the Archdiocese of New Orleans the recognition of having two division runner-up teams in De La Salle and St. Charles Catholic and other football programs that reflected the high caliber of local Catholic programs, coaches and athletes.

And the best of the best are documented in the Clarion Herald’s Elite Football Team, assembled from Catholic high schools that comprise the five-parish Metro New Orleans area.

Leading the accolades is Brother Martin head coach Mark Bonis, a man whose faith and dedication to his profession served to carry him through serious illnesses that could have taken his life and the life of his infant son, Marc, a year before. On the field, Bonis led his Crusaders to an undefeated campaign in the highly competitive Catholic League.

Bonis is deserving of the high honor as the Elite team’s Coach of the Year for guiding Martin to eight straight wins before its lone defeat to eventual Division I champion Catholic High.

And remaining dedicated to the administration that gave him his first head coaching job 10 years ago, Bonis graciously declined an inquiry to fill the vacant head coaching position at his alma mater, Jesuit.

Among the strengths of the local Catholic school football teams was its contingent of quality running backs.

No one had recorded numbers that compare to the 2,551 yards by Brother Martin’s Danté Butler (2010) or the 2,136 of St. Augustine’s Leonard Fournette (2013), but they contributed to their teams’ successes, nevertheless.
The best was senior Montrell Johnson, who culminated his De La salle career with 1,342 yards and 13 touchdowns. The three-year starter averaged 12.4 yards per carry while sharing ball-carrying duties with another senior, Byron Phillips.

The 6-1, 205-pound Johnson, who decommitted from Arizona, showed off his talents in the LHSAA Division II championship game when he ran for 182 yards on 29 carries in a 35-28 loss to St. Thomas More. He scored all four Cavalier touchdowns. The overall yardage leader was Archbishop Hannan senior Jake Dalmado, whose 1,565 yards and 16 touchdowns place him on a tier with former Hannan Hawks Jason Schule and Jeff Sanchez, who earned All-State honors when the school was located in Meraux prior to 2005.

Soon-to-be Notre Dame back Logan Diggs of Archbishop Rummel (913 yards on 138 carries) and Brother Martin’s Jaylon Spears (903 yards, 146 rushes) are college-bound athletes who combined for 32 scores.

The District 9-5A coaches agreed that Rummel’s senior linebacker Kolbe Fields, a ball hawk who terrorized opposing running backs and quarterbacks, is the most outstanding defensive player the Catholic League and the city. South Carolina also thought so and got the 6-1, 205-pound linebacker to a commit to scholarship after Fields recorded 67 tackles from his middle position.


2020 Elite Football Team

OFFENSE

Pos.     Name, School              Hgt.     Wgt.    Class

WR      Luke Besh, Jesuit         6-2       190      Sr.

WR      Austin Jackson, Brother Martin    6-1      185      Jr.

TE        Garrett Lautenbach, St. Paul’s  6-2 190      Sr.

OL       John Martin, De La Salle        6-5 360   Sr.

OL       John Drake, Jesuit       6-2       270     Sr.

OL       Rustin West, St. Charles Catholic 6-1       240      Sr.

OL       Holden Kareokowski, De La Salle   6-3     280      Sr.

OL       Arturo Garcia, Brother Martin     6-0    272     Sr.

QB      Garrett Mmahat, Brother Martin    6-1   168     Jr.

RB       Jake Dalmado, Abp. Hannan   5-10     193     Sr.

RB       Logan Diggs, Abp. Rummel    6-0      191     Sr.

RB       Jaylon Spears, Brother Martin       5-10 205      Sr.

Ath.     Montrell Johnson, De La Salle 6-1       205 Sr.

PK       Ethan Klapatch, Abp. Rummel       6-1       155      Sr.

DEFENSE

Pos.     Name, School                                  Hgt.     Wgt. Class

DL       Kaiden Jones, St. Charles Catholic          5-11 230 Jr.

DL       Ja’marian Peterson, De La Salle      6-4 214 Sr.

DL       Barryn Sorrell, Holy Cross       6-4 270 Sr.

DL      Byron Turner Jr., St. Augustine 6-4 225 Sr.

LB       Mandel Eugene, St. Charles Catholic  6-1 205     Sr.

LB       Joshua Tamplain, St. Charles Catholic   6-0 180 Sr.

LB       Kolbe Fields, Abp. Rummel    6-1 205     Sr.

LB      Max Jubenville, Jesuit 5-10 205      Sr.

DB      Corey Lambert Jr., Brother Martin     6-0       191      Jr.       

DB      Michael Newton, Abp. Shaw   5-9       178     Jr.

DB      Kamren Campbell, St. Charles Catholic  6-0       190      Sr.

DB       Edward Guilds, St. Augustine  6-0      185     Sr.

P         Justin Baham, St. Paul’s           6-1    175     Sr.

Ret.    Michael Williams, Abp. Shaw  5-10     165      Soph.

OUTSTANDING OFFENSE: Montrell Johnson, De La Salle

OUTSTANDING DEFENSE: Kolbe Fields, Abp. Rummel

COACH OF THE YEAR: Mark Bonis, Brother Martin


CORRECTIONS:
On its Elite Football Team, published in the print edition of the Feb. 6 edition, the Clarion Herald erroneously listed St. Charles Catholic’s senior linebacker Mandel Eugene as a player representing De La Salle.

Eugene, an All-State selection by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association and a signee at Tulane University, was the District 11-2A Defensive Player of the Year after being credited with 121 tackles, two intercepted passes, two blocked kicks and four sacks during the Comets’ campaign that took them to the  LHSAA Division II championship game, where they gained the division’s runner-up trophy.

Eugene, a 6-1, 205-pound athlete, was the runner-up to Archbishop Rummel’s Kolbe Fields (a South Carolina signee) on the Clarion Herald’s selections.

Also, the Clarion Herald misspelled the last name of St. Charles Catholic linebacker Joshua Tamplain. He also was a member of the Elite Team Defense.

With apologies to the administrations at St. Charles Catholic and De La Salle, we regret the errors.