Junior Hunt Navar watches his shot squeak past the Sulphur goalie in Jesuit’s 3-1 playoff victory on Thursday, Feb. 11.

Jesuit scored three goals in an eight-minute stretch of the first half and held on to defeat Sulphur 3-1 in the second round of the LHSAA Division 1 soccer playoffs.

After 28 scoreless minutes, junior Christopher Pitre broke through the Golden Tors’ defense for an unassisted goal with 12 minutes remaining in the first half.

Less than four minutes later, senior defender Ethan Camet lifted a long pass that found sophomore Braden Brignac in stride and ahead of the defense. Brignac calmly headed the ball into the net for the Jays’ second goal.

Then, with just four minutes remaining in the half, junior Hunt Navar delivered the dagger, or so it seemed at the time, when he eluded several defenders and placed a perfect ball to give Jesuit a 3-0 lead.

“I think we showed a little rust after the long lay-off,” said coach Hubie Collins. “But once we found a rhythm, we really created some good opportunities.”

“Give Sulphur credit. They could have rolled over after that first half, but they really came out strong in the second half.”

The Golden Tors closed to 3-1 on a penalty kick with 22 minutes left in the game. Jesuit senior goalie Brady LeBlanc guessed right on the play, but was unable to get a hand on the shot.

After that, the Tors kept the pressure on the rest of the way, but couldn’t break through.

Jesuit advances to the quarterfinals to play a road game against Catholic of Baton Rouge. That game will be played on Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 6:30 p.m. Alternately, you can view the LHSAA play-off brackets here. For a photo gallery of tonight’s game, see below.

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