Lafayette Christian Academy 2024 QB Ju'Juan Johnson sets Louisiana career total yardage record
LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA - Lafayette Christian Academy's Hayden Lessard has to do more work than your average football statistician.
Knights quarterback Ju'Juan Johnson is the primary reason.
The senior LSU commit has filled up not only the school's record book, but he's taken ownership of former Evangel Christian quarterback Brock Berlin's state career total yardage record that stood for 24 years, and Johnson is on the cusp of breaking another monumental Louisiana High School Athletic Association milestone.
On Friday night in front of a home crowd, Johnson reached 13,662 career total yards in a 57-21 win against McDonogh #35 in the Division II select quarterfinals.
Johnson entered the contest with 13,328 career yards - 10,009 passing and 3,300 rushing with 158 touchdowns - to accompany one 19-yard reception in a game this season.
Against McDonogh #35, he rushed for 151 yards on 14 carries with three TDs and passed for 163 yards and three scores. He broke Berlin's record of 13,659 yards with a 3-yard run in the second half.
Following the game, the school announced that it will retire Johnson's No. 7 jersey at the end of this season.
The third-seeded Knights (10-2) hope to play two more games. Friday, they'll host No. 7 Teurlings Catholic (9-3) in the semifinals for the second straight year.
Louisiana high school football Top 25 rankings (11/22/2023)
The winner will face the No. 1 St Thomas More/No. 5 Archbishop Shaw semifinal winner in the championship the following week in New Orleans.
Johnson needs only four touchdowns to break University Lab tailback Nick Brossette's career record of 167 TDs.
Lessard has compiled a website, LafayetteChristianRecords.com, that is a testament to Johnson's fantastic career.
Johnson holds the single-game record for passing yards with 487 against St. Thomas More in 2022, the single-game record for TD passes with six against Teurlings Catholic in 2022 and the single-game completion record with 32 against St. Thomas More in 2022.
He has the No. 4 single-game rushing performance with 270 yards against Jesuit this season.
In addition, Johnson set a state playoff record last year with nine TDs in a semifinal win over Teurlings Catholic. He accounted for eight TDs twice - vs. De La Salle in 2022 and vs. Acadiana this season - and accounted for seven vs. Jesuit.
Johnson holds the school single season passing record with 4,157 in 2022. His current total of 3,058 yards this year ranks second. His sophomore total of 2,356 yards ranks third.
He owns the school career passing touchdown record with 43. That mark is within reach for Johnson, who has thrown for 38 TDs this season.
He ranks fourth and fifth on the school's single-season rushing record list with 1,280 yards in 2022 and 1,241 yards this season.
There are other records Johnson has achieved.
He set the school single-season touchdown record with 60 TDs in 2022 and has 59 this season.
Johnson can break Zach Clement's school career rushing record of 3,867 yards with 416 more yards.
He will tie Logan Gabriel's school career rushing record of 51 TDs with his next score.
Photo of Lafayette Christian QB Ju'Juan Johnson (7) by Brad Bowie, The Acadiana Advocate
-- Mike Coppage | @SBLiveLA
