Tom Dodge
VILLE PLATTE – In a hard-hitting battle, Sacred Heart of Ville Platte pulled out a 10-3 win over rival St. Edmund.
“We can’t turn the ball over, give up big plays or hurt ourselves with penalties,” St, Edmund head coach Andy Hargroder said after the game.
After forcing the Blue Jays (1-1) to punt on gthe opening drive of the game, the Trojans (2-0) almost scored on its first play as Wesley Launey connected with Nicolas Perry for a 64-yard pass.
Facing a first-and-goal inside the St. Ed’s 10, the Trojans were pushed back with three consecutive stops and a unsportsmanlike penalty.
On fourth down, Launey nailed a 34-yard field goal to give the Trojans a 3-0 lead with 7:14 left in the first quarter.
The Blue Jays then moved 32 yards in six plays, but a fumble gave the ball back to Sacred Heart at the Trojans’ 39.
The St. Edmund defense again stood tall and forced a punt, but the Trojan kick pinned the Blue Jays at their own 4-yard line.
St. Ed’s appeared to get out of danger with a long run by Brad Miller, but a holding call nullifed the play.
The Jays were forced to punt on the first play of the second quarter and the Trojans had great field position at the SEH 35.
The St. Edmund defense again responded to the challenge and stopped the Trojans on fourth down to stop the drive at the SEH 28 with 9:17 left in the period.
The Jays moved 16 yards in six plays and then pinned the Trojans back to the SHVP 13 on a long punt by Peyton Marcantel.
After forcing a Sacred Heart punt, the Blue Jays offense was halted on the first play of the next drive when Drew Bordelon snared an interception at the SHVP 18.
Three plays later, with 1:57 left in the half, Launey found Bordelonn open for an 80-yard scoring strike.
Launey’s kick push the Trojans ahead 10-0.
St. Edmund was aided by a Trojan penalty to convert on fourth down, but three incomplete passes end the half wth the Jays trailing 10-0.
Sacred Heart received the second half kickoff, but two plays later the Jays’ Chris Rozas recovered a Trojan fumble at the SHVP 28.
The Jays moved 13 yards before Marcantel drilled a 35-yard field goal to close the gap to 10-3 with 8:03 left in the third period.
The two defenses then took as both teams were foced to punt.
After the second Trojan punt, the Blue Jays took over near midfield with 2:05 remaining in the thir frame.
St. Ed’s then had its best drive of the night, going 44 yards in 13 plays.
On fourth down-and-1 at the Sacred Heart 40, Brock Bieber gained enough for the first down.
After an unnecessary roughness call pushed the Jays back, Bieber’s runs against moved St. Ed’s inside the Sacred Heart 10.
But the drive was halted on a fourth down fumbled snap and the Trojans took over at their own 5 with 7:47 left in the game.
Sacred Heart moved the ball 44 yards in eight plays, taking 3:44 off the clock, before the Trojans were forced to punt.
A holding penalty on the punt return pushed the Jays back to SEH 15.
A third-down halfback pass option was snuffed out and the Jays were forced to punt.
The St. Edmund defense again made a stop, forcing a fourth-down incomplete pass at the Blue Jay 27 with 50 seconds left in the game.
After two incomplete passes, the Jays were stopped when Alec Gotro snared an interception and the Trojans ran out the clock.
The Blue Jays suffered three turnovers, had eight penalties and allowed 233 yards of total offense in the loss.
St. Edmund was limited to 137 yards on 54 plays after rolling up 293 yards in the win over Hanson.
Trojan quarterback Launey completed 5-of-11 passes for 191 yards, including two pass plays which resulted in 144 yards.
“We need to make corrections before we take on Mamou next week,” Hargroder said.
Mamou fell to 0-2 on the season after a 36-0 loss to Basile.