The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Outweighed on both sides of the line, it mattered not to the Pios lined up against their bigger opponents. The outcome was typical of most past football games against Teurlings.
Notre Dame saw a 78-yard C.J. Thibodeaux touchdown run called back and an interception at the Teurlings 15 overturned. It was that kind of night! But all that mattered was the final score, 28-14, for the fourth straight win over the Rebels and 32nd in 44 all-time meetings.
“The beauty of it was our guys just kept playing through it,” noted Coach Lewis Cook. “The Pios have big hearts and just keep coming back. Defensively, we were lights out. It was a good team win.”
The Pios took a 7-0 lead on their second possession after a nine-yard Rebels punt at the Teurlings 38-yard line. QB Ben Broussard connected with Kaizer Lamm for 21 yards on a deep out. Three plays later Broussard turned the right side for a six-yard score and John William Lamm added the extra point.
Teurlings answered with an 80-yard drive aided by two pass interference calls. Rebels QB Sammy LeBlanc went over the middle to Landon Trosclair for a 36-yard TD pass to tie the score.
The teams exchanged interceptions, Pio Zeke Petitjean picking off a pass near midfield and the offense giving it right back. The Pios defense held on four plays at the ND 30 and the offense went to work with six minutes left in the half.
Noah Bourgeois took a stretch play 26-yards to the Teurlings 34. Ben Broussard kept on an option to the right for 25-yards to the Rebels six. Two penalties and a seven-yard loss pushed the Pios back out of the red zone.
On second and goal at the Teurlings 23, Broussard passed to tight end Thomas Bellard on a delay over the middle for 18-yards. The Pios QB took it in the rest of the way for a 14-7 halftime lead.
“They were all over the place on defense and our best plays were coming on the outside,” pointed out Cook going into the halftime break. “We talked about keeping it mixed up, hit them in, jump outside and work in some throws to keep them off balance. We put our backs to the wall with turnovers and our defense came up with some big stops.”
The Pios continued to shut down the Teurlings offense in the second half. Leading Rebels rusher Landon Trosclair finished with just 30-yards on 15 carries and the Rebels gained 92 total yards on the ground.
The Pios secondary that took some heat for allowing big plays last week, smothered the Rebels passing game. Teurlings completed 10-of-30 passes for 117 yards with two interceptions on the night which brought a big smile from defensive coordinator James McCleary.
“It’s all about experience. We have 10 new starters playing together and last week we saw some things that we hadn’t seen before. We had to coach them up on the run. This week, we went back to fundamentals and doing your job. We reminded them you can’t do two things at once and that was what they were doing to try and please us last week. This week we broke on the ball faster and were better disciplined to take care of your responsibility and it showed.”
Cody LeBlanc’s interception midway through the third quarter gave the Pios a first down at the Rebels 27-yard line. C.J. Thibodeaux pounded the Teurlings defense for gains of 10, none and five yards for first and goal at the three.
After two Pios penalties, QB Ben Broussard turned the corner for 12 yards back to the one. A quarterback sneak and Lamm extra point made it 21-7 Pios.
Teurlings battled back on the next series with a 54-yard run by Reb Ethan Trahan. On third and eleven at the Pios 27, LeBlanc launched a rainbow down the middle and Ethan Hebert outjumped defenders to pull down a 24-yard reception at the ND three.
RB Landon Trosclair lost a yard on first down but ran it in from four yards out on second down. With two minutes left in the third quarter, the Pios lead was cut to 21-14.
The matchup against a swarming Teurlings defense was a four-quarter battle for the Pios offense. By the time the final period got underway, Notre Dame was on the way to a 300-yard offensive night. The Pios ran 46 times for 245 yards led again by Noah Broussard with 138 yards on 23 carries. C.J. Thibodeaux added nine carries for 40 yards and QB Ben Broussard ran for 71 yards and threw for 73.
“We weren’t actually expecting what they came out in,” added Cook. “They played three linemen to our two lineman side and two linemen to our tight end side but then they would switch so it was a guessing game. We finally started hurting them on the tight end side, so they shifted a guy over there and then we went back weak side and made some plays there. It was just trying to find something to get us first downs and they made it tough for us.”
When Notre Dame got the ball back with just under eleven minutes to play, the battle of wills had been pretty much decided. The Bourgeois/Broussard show closed out the game.
The Pios marched 66 yards in 13 plays, all on the ground to seal the 28-14 win. RB Noah Bourgeois carried the ball nine times with a big run of 19 yards to spark the drive. QB Ben Broussard mixed in four carries and Bourgeois got the score to cap a drive that took seven minutes and 18 seconds off the clock.
Teurlings had one last possession that ended with a third down sack by Pio Tylan Turner and a fourth down pass being swatted away. Three snaps to take a knee moved the Pios to 3-0 on the season.
Notre Dame travels to Catholic High, New Iberia, next week in a rematch of the Division 3 Championship game played last December in the Superdome.