Tom Dodge
It was sweet revenge for the Bobcats as No. 10 Eunice cruised to a 36-0 win over Bastrop to open the Class 4A playoffs.
Last season, the Rams grabbed an 8-7 win over Eunice in the second round.
“It was big time motivation,” Eunice High head coach Andre Vige said of the rematch against the Rams. “Any time some one ends your season, it sticks with you.
“The fact we lost by one point, it was hard to deal with,” he said. “We thought we should have won that game – so we wanted payback this year.”
Eunice travels to No. 26 Belle Chasse (4-2) as the Cardinals upset No. 7 George Washington Carver, 35-14.
“They do a very good job running the ball,” Vige said of the Cardinals.
“They have a very explosive guy (Twillie Lovett) at quarterback and sometimes they put him at running back,” Vige said. “He is a dangerous weapon – he is a guy who can take it the distance at any time.
“We want to prevent those big plays.”
It was a close game through the first half with Belle Chasse holding a slim 14-7 lead over Carver at halftime, but the Cardinals’ quarterback Lovett broke free for a 52-yard touchdown on the third play of the second half to push Belle Chasse ahead 21-7.
Carver tacked on a late score 1:51 to go in the game to close the gap to 28-14 before Lovett’s 36-yard interception returned for a touchdown with 17 seconds left in the game sealed the Belle Chasse win.
On offense, Lovett ran 20 times for 140 yards with touchdown runs of 15 and 52 yards.
“We have a tough challenge ahead,” Vige said of Friday’s second round clash.
“We are down to 16 teams, so we know there aren’t any weak teams left in the Class 4-A bracket.
“If we hold on to the football, I think we will be fine,” the coach said. “The two losses we had this season, we had too many turnovers.”
In the win over Bastrop, Eunice finished with 16 first downs, 266 yards of total offense and no turnovers.
Eunice running back Deon Ardoin gained 103 yards on 18 carries with two touchdowns against Bastrop.
Bobcat quarterback Simeon Ardoin completed 4-of-7 passes for 93 yards and two touchdowns in the win.
Bastrop finished with five first downs, 91 yards of total offense and two turnovers.
“I thought it was an overall good team performance,” Vige said. “On special teams I thought we had the upper hand.
“Defensively we executed our game plan and on offense we performed well in wet conditions.”
Vige said the early lead against the Rams helped his team get the momentum and grab the upper hand.
The Bobcats tackled the Bastrop punter twice after miss handled snaps and scored twice (21-yard pass from Simeon Ardoin to Zach Suire and a 3-yard run by Deon Ardoin) as Eunice held a 15-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Bobcats added two more touchdowns in the second quarter including a 1-yard run by Deon Ardoin and a 51-yard pass from Simeon Ardoin to Hayden Darbonne for a 29-0 halftime advantage.
Eunice added a final score in the third period on a 1-yard run by Deon Ardoin.
Braden Rider was 4-for-4 on his extra point kicks.