Basile can’t muster much offense in loss

BASILE -- A valiant effort from the Basile Bearcats was not enough to carry them to their second win on the season, as they fell to Port Barre here Friday night by the score of 13-7.
With the loss, Basile is now 1-4 on the year and will host North Central this Friday for homecoming and the first district game of the season.
Despite trailing 13-0 with six minutes left in the final quarter, Basile mounted a furious comeback attempt. The Bearcats scored with 3:10 left in the game when Jarred Belle took it in from one-yard out. Jacob Guillory added the extra point to cut the lead to 13-7.
Basile kicked off to Port Barre and held the Red Devils at bay after an initial first down. The Bearcat special teams got into the action blocking the punt, which was recovered at the Port Barre 40-yard line with a little under a minute left in the game.
However, the Basile offense, which had not produced very much in the way of yardage all night long, could not move forward thus ending the game.
Despite the loss, Basile head coach Kevin Bertrand applauded his team’s effort and their moxie throughout the contest.
“This team will never give up,” stated an emphatic Bertrand. “They are such a special group of players. They don’t know that shouldn’t almost beat a team like Port Barre. They just show up to practice everyday and give everything they have. I am just upset for them that we ran out of time.”
Offensively, neither club was able to get things going, especially in the first half. Basile could only muster 22 yards rushing and six yards passing in the first two quarters while Port Barre was held to 56 yards rushing and 11 yards passing.
But, the Red Devils did find enough offense to put up the initial touchdown of the night in the second quarter.
On their last drive of the half, Port Barre strung together a sixplay 37-yard touchdown effort that put them up 7-0 with only 10 seconds left in the half. The score came off of a Terrence Lamelle one-yard dive off of right tackle and Alex Olivier added the extra point.
As the second half began and wound its way into the fourth quarter, both defenses stood solid, not giving up much ground.
However, Port Barre was able to add to their lead early on in the final period. Taking over at midfield, the Red Devils marched 50-yards in six plays and scored their last touchdown on the night when quarterback Kieron Malveaux found Olivier in the end zone for a four-yard scoring pass. The extra point was no good, but the Red Devils now owned a 13-0 lead.
“We felt like our defense controlled the line of scrimmage most of the night,” said Port Barre head coach Mac Mistric. “We knew they had two play makers that we had to hold down and we did that up until the final minutes of the game. I was proud the way we hung in an fought hard on the road.”