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The Football Tradition for the Prep League in
1947:

1947: HOLY CROSS IS CITY CO-CHAMPIONS, BUT JAYS SMOTHER TIGERS IN ANNUAL GAME 

1947 was another exciting year of prep football, one that saw strong signs of parity.  Any of six teams could have won the title.  These are Jesuit, Nicholls, Holy Cross, St. Aloysius, Warren Easton and Fortier.  Most of the league games were rated a tossup and any of these schools could win on any given day.  It ended up with Holy Cross and Easton in a dead heat for the title, with the other four just a game or so behind. 

One of the highlights of the season was a punt by Fortier’s great back, Ridley Boudreaux.  Backed up to the Fortier two against Nicholls, he put his foot into the ball deep in his own end zone and sent it bouncing and rolling to the Rebels’ six-yard line.  An astounding punt of 92 yards from scrimmage!  The perfect spiral struck the midfield stripe on its point at the perfect angle and got the perfect bounces needed to roll dead, with Tarpon coverage men monitoring it all the way.  Envious rivals might mention a lucky bounce, but they take off their hats when doing so.

Jesuit started off with two outstand returnees, John Petitbon at tailback and Mire Thomas at center.  Coach Brown made good use of his other players and motivated them to a solid winning season.  Petitbon, a one-man team, did it all: running, passing, blocking, punting, receiving, tackling and knocking down or intercepting almost every pass thrown his way.  He goes down in history as one of the very finest ever to proudly wear the Blue and White uniform.  He went on to star at Notre Dame and had a few seasons in the NFL to finish out his football career.  Mire Thomas was the solid anchor of the Jesuit line, a line of obscure names that improved as the season wore on, no doubt inspired by Thomas’ solid play.

Lauricella of Holy Cross dazzled all fans with sparkling performances.  He won a scholarship to Tennessee when Coach Neyland saw his performance in the city playoff game against Warren Easton.  He had a great career at Tennessee and many of his New Orleans fans enjoyed his senior performance in the 1952 Sugar Bowl.  Lauricella finished second in the Heisman Trophy balloting as a senior.  

In that great football year of 1947, crowds at City Park Stadium were large and loud.  Gate receipts topped 10,000 for numerous games for public schools as well as Catholic.  Jesuit and St. Aloysius drew 23,000 in a close match that ended in a 7-7 deadlock.

Holy Cross smothered all opponents and was expected to defeat Jesuit, but Petitbon put on a one-man show and the Jay line stopped the Tigers in almost errorless play.  The undefeated Tigers suffered a grave disappointment and their fifth-year players were denied the revenge they had so dearly sought.  The loss by the Tigers sent them into a tie for the city title with Warren Easton.  They later beat the Eagles in a playoff game, but lost to powerful Bogalusa in the South Louisiana championship.  Bogalusa won the state title and was the only undefeated Louisiana team of 1947.

Now, for the official article on the game played on Sunday, Nov. 16, 1947

Copyright © 1947, The Times-Picayune Publishing Co.

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PETITBON SCORES ALL POINTS AS JAYS UPSET TIGERS

 THOMAS STARS AT PIVOT POST

 John Makes Touchdown on 90-Yard Punt Return

 By N. Charles Wicker

John Petitbon, playing the best game of his high school career and receiving splendid help from the Blue Jay line which played its best game of the season, proved too much for the Holy Cross Tigers, who bowed out of the prep football select class to the tune of 26 to 0 Sunday afternoon at City Park Stadium as some 18,000 fans looked on.

The Blue Jay star tallied all of his team’s points and stood out on the defense.  Mire Thomas, Jesuit center, also came through with a great defensive game against the potent Tiger offense.

While it was Petitbon and Thomas who stood out, the entire Jesuit line played great ball.  The end play by Bobby Brown and Montz was great.  Ed Hunt and Jimmy Johnson stood out at the guard spots and aiding with consistent performances were Allen Smuck and John McGinn at tackles.

Coach Gernon Brown gave Petitbon plenty of help with a changed backfield at the start.  The completely new quartet with Joe Shirer at full Phil Baron at quarter and Gerald Griffith was unbeatable.  The combination gave the Jays the blocking that they seemed to lack in past games.

Galloping John really went galloping Sunday.  He returned one of Lauricella’s punts 90 yards for a touchdown in the third period and raced 54 yards for the Jays’ initial tally.  His second and third tallies were on short line plays.

Jesuit’s well deserved victory over the Tigers cinched the Catholic school championship and a bid to the fifth annual CYO classic and left the Bogalusa Lumberjacks as Louisiana’s only undefeated team by virtue of last Friday’s triumph over the Istrouma Indians.

The game Sunday was the second straight prep upset and was a repetition of last Friday night’s game between Warren Easton and Fortier, even to the score.

The Eagles knocked the Tarpons out of the select class Friday night when they defeated the Tarpons 26-0, but Buck Seeber’s lads manage to hold a percentage lead in the local prep race that finds all four of the top teams with one defeat and leaves November 30^th as a great day in prep school football.  Warren Easton in second place meets Jesuit in their annual classic and the Tarpons tie up with the Tigers in a night game.

Practically all of Petitbon’s gains were cutbacks over his own right tackle. 

The Blue Jay front wall, rated a meek line at the start of the season, gradually improved and they played an almost perfect game in holding the Tigers to a mere 24 yards net running and to three yards passing.

Jesuit gained 211 yards gross and completed one of three passes for 18 yards.  “Big John” got 130 of the 211 yards on the ground and he was on the heaving end of the lone Blue Jay aerial that was completed.

The Tiger forward wall and secondary was able to smear the Blue Jay backs on only four occasions.  The Jays lost 20 yards on the four plays and netted 191 yards running and 18 yards passing for a total of 209 yards on the Tigers who entered the game with a record of not having their goal line crossed by a local team and scored on but once this season.  That was by a Memphis team in their initial start of the season.

Hank Lauricella, the lad who raced 70 yards against Warren Easton for the Eagles’ only loss, was bottled up Sunday.  He carried the ball 17 times and was thrown for losses on eight occasions.  His passing was quite accurate early in the game when receivers dropped his aerials.  He turned in several fine kicks during the afternoon, one of them traveling 54 yards on a fly.

 Series Record: Jesuit leads 19-5-2

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