With all the changes to personnel entering this season, Notre Dame sure looked ahead of schedule Friday night against Carencro in the Kiwanis Jamboree at Cajun Field. Only three starters return from last year, but it didn’t look like there were any holes to fill.
The Pios offense scored on three straight first half possessions and the defense held the Bears to just eighteen yards and one first down in the half. Notre Dame cruised to a 28-7 win that had even head coach Lewis Cook a little surprised.
“It was a little bit of a shock because we were not expecting to be able to do what we did. We go into every game with a few things we feel we can get to work, but our guys just really went out and played well and took it to them.”
Senior Gabe Doucet busted a 17-yard run to set up the first Pios score with junior C.J. Thibodeaux dragging tacklers in from two yards out. On the next possession, junior quarterback Ben Broussard turned the corner for a 26-yard scamper. Four plays later, senior tailback Noah Bourgeois scored on a two-yard run. Bourgeois led the Pios with 50-yards on five carries and also caught a pass out of the backfield.
Bourgeois started the next series with a run for 18-yards to the Carencro forty. After senior Gabe Menard picked up eight, Bourgeois sliced through a gap in the right side of the line and outran the defense for a 32-yard score to make it 21-nothing before intermission.
“Our guys were blocking well, and Noah doesn’t need a lot of space to make things happen. Noah can run the ball. He is really a good running back.”
Two sacks by junior defensive tackle Joe Pommier and pressure off the edge with two tackles for a loss by junior end Tylan Turner kept the Carencro offense in check the first half. Seven of the Bears twelve offensive snaps went for no yardage or lost yards.
“Those two guys played a lot for us last year,” added Cook. “They are quick and hard to block. We started three juniors in the defensive line and we haven’t done that in a while. Our fourth starter is a senior that didn’t play that much last year and they all had a good game.”
In the second half, senior Alec Prevost kept the Pios ground game going with four straight carries for 18-yards. The 54-yard drive was capped by the three-yard TD run of junior Paden Augustine.
Junior Ben Broussard has the offensive reigns at quarterback and ran three times for 33- yards while completing two of three passes for 18-yards. His 14-yard roll out completion to Bailey Leonards on a deep out kept the first scoring drive alive.
“Now you have to defend eleven guys with Ben back there,” summed up Cook. “That was Bailey’s first varsity catch and it came at a big moment. We got some work in the kicking game which was also helpful. We still have a lot to work on, but it was a good start.”
Senior linebacker Cody LeBlanc added a sack to stop the Bears on their first series of the final half. Carencro did connect on a 43-yard pass late in the game against Pios reserves and pushed it in for a score to make the final 28-7.
Carencro finished with 97 total yards, 43 of those on the one pass play. The Pios rushed for 170 yards and had 188 total yards in what was basically a half game.
Notre Dame opens the regular season next Friday on the road against the LaGrange Gators in Lake Charles.