Stock Watch: Rummel rises to Top 15

Make room in the Top 15 for Archbishop Rummel (Metairie, LA).

The top team in Louisiana continues to impress as its navigates one of the most difficult schedules in the country. This week it dominated St. Augustine (New Orleans, LA) to the tune of 35-6 and improves to 7-0 on the year.

The Raiders move from No. 20 to No. 14 this week and is within striking distance of a national title.

It also is a jumping off point for the Sunday Stock Watch.

The new feature from NationalHSFootball.com takes the place of HSFB100 Rankings Preview but will contain similar elements and as National Week Seven of the high school football season wraps up there were results that stood out more than others.

The Raiders were locked in a battle with St. Augustine and entered halftime with a slim 7-0 lead but dominated the third quarter and cruised to a victory.

It started immediately after the break as David Hensley caught a 53-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second half. He added another 48-yard score on the second possession to extend the lead to 21-0 and grabbed a 29-yarder that set up a third score and put the game at 28-0.

Following the game he told Josh Preston of The Times-Picayune that coach Jay Roth wanted to start fast after intermission and he responded with 149 yards in the frame.

“We came out slow and we have to always come out fast because if we come out slow, we give a good team a chance to come back,” Hensley said. “Coach gave us a pep talk at halftime and we got the offense together and scored two quick touchdowns and put the game away.”

Rummel quarterback Chase Fourcade punched in his second score of the game following the Preston reception and the final points for the program were on the legs of sophomore Devin Hutton as he scored on a 6-yard blast in the opening moments of the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 35-0.

St. Augustine scored its lone points in the contest on the final drive of the game to avoid being shutout.

Fourcade finished the game 8-of-12 for 199 yards with his two touchdown passes to Hensely and two rushing scores of his own.

Maurice Bailey and Brandon Phillips combined for 90 yards rushing on 14 carries to aid in the victory.

Rummel now has wins over St. Augustine, Baton Rouge Catholic (LA), Acadiana (Lafayette, LA), Hahnville (Boutte, LA), and Dutchtown (Geismar, LA).

The strength of schedule only stands to improve with games against Jesuit (New Orleans, LA) and Brother Martin (New Orleans, LA) prior to what figures to be one of the most difficult in the nation through the Louisiana Select Division I bracket.

Here is the rest of the Sunday Stock Watch:

Starkville (Mississippi) — The Yellow Jackets made a bold statement in saying that the goal was to shutout its entire district. It then backed it up with blanking the fourth of six foes, impressively downing Madison Central (MS), 28-0. The team is balanced on offense but prefers to throw the ball and it is playing incredibly well on defense. The top team in Mississippi is moving up through the Top 25 and will be tested in the playoffs.

St. Ignatius (Cleveland, OH) — After a slow start, several injuries, and throwing away a chance to knock off a Top 10 team the Wildcats are starting to look like a serious threat to win Ohio. St. Ignatius has a tough loss to Mentor (OH) and an even more difficult to swallow setback versus Paramus Catholic (NJ) but has since rebounded to roll McDowell (Erie, PA) and Moeller (Cincinnati, OH). St. Iggy is moving to the No. 3 team in Ohio this week but still has showdowns with St. Xavier (Cincinnati, OH) and The Holy War versus St. Edward (Lakewood, OH).

Bothell (Washington) — The No. 2 team in Washington is going to make its debut this week at the backend of the HSFB100. The Cougars dominated Skyline (Sammamish, WA) this week, winning 56-0. It has outscored opponents by a total of 310-69 this year and has become a team that could hold its own in a debate with Bellevue (WA) atop the state rankings.

Moeller (Cincinnati, OH) — On the opposite end of the St. Ignatius arrow is the downward slide of Moeller. The team fouhgt hard to defeate St. Xavier to close Septamber and push towards the top of the state rankings but it has been mostly downhill since. It fell 34-9 against La Salle (Cincinnati, OH) and then again versus St. Ignatius. With two remaining games against St. Edward and Louisville Trinity (KY) before the playoffs the team could be unranked come November.

Trinity Christian (Jacksonville, FL) — The Conquerors have played two teams with equal talent and it look overmatched in both games. This week it fell 28-7 against IMG Academy (Bradenton, FL) in a game that felt like it could have been much worse. Offensively the group is limted and while it may win the Class 3A title it has proven itself not to be among the best 100 teams in the country.

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