CARENCRO It was quite a night for Carencro's offense, especially junior wide receiver Kameron Bernard.

The No. 12-ranked Golden Bears scored touchdowns in their first six possessions on their way to a dominating 72-14 victory over The Willow School of New Orleans.

The victory was a rebound effort for the Bears, who lost at Cecilia in the regular season finale, and sets up a short trip to meet Lafayette Renaissance in the state regionals Friday.

"Coach always says, 'even a great fighter has to get back up,' and we just got back tonight," Bernard said.

"No doubt, that was a tough loss, man," Carencro coach Gavin Peters said of the Cecilia loss. "It was tough to shake. We have been doing so well, having performing so well. We had a great week of preparation and just unfortunately, it just snowballed on us very, very early, and we were ever never really able to overcome it."

In this playoff opener, the Bears (6-5) had no trouble at all. By the end of the game, Carencro had scored nine touchdowns on its 10 offensive possessions.

 Bernard was in the middle of most of the Bears' damage. Carencro's versatile attack began with six running plays and two touchdowns to get things started - one 22-yard TD from Cardaye Batiste and a 4-yarder from Da'Marion Green.

Green finished with 80 yards and three touchdowns, while Batiste added 85 yards and one score.

Then quarterback Carson Gurzi connected with Bernard three times, including a 22-yard touchdown grab for a 23-8 lead with 1:16 left in the first quarter.

"I just came out, played ball, my quarterback did his job, and the O-line did an even better job," Bernard said. "I can't ask for nothing money."

On the next drive, Bernard caught a 30-yard pass and then a 6-yard touchdown reception for a 30-8 lead one play into the second quarter.

And no, Bernard didn't make a catch on Carencro's next scoring drive, but that possession began after a Bernard interception.

"I'd say interception," Bernard said when asked which one was more exciting. "That's something new for me. I had never played defense before. I loved it."

On the next drive, Bernard got a 4-play touchdown drive started with an 18-yard catch to set up Gurzi's 7-yard touchdown run.

By halftime, Bernard had seven receptions for 119 yards and two touchdown on offense and then added the interception on defense. The second half was all running time with backups playing.

"I've said this all year, he was one of the most grittiest kids that I've ever coached," Peters said of Bernard. "He's worked extremely hard for everything that he's done. I'm happy that he was able to have some success. He even caught a pick out there on defense." 

Dentrell Morrison added an interception that he returned 34 yards for a touchdown with 1:05 left in the second quarter for a commanding 51-8 cushion.

Gurzi finished the game 11-of-13 passing for 150 yards and two touchdowns.

"Carson Gurzi was just flat out phenomenal too," Peters said. "This wasn't an easy game plan. This wasn't an easy front to handle. Some of the things that they were doing out there, and it called for the quarterback to be able to check protections when he needed to.

"He was perfect on it every single time, man. I couldn't be more proud of him because he works his butt off to be that way."