Bearcats outlast Panthers in Parish Jamboree

The Basile Bearcats used a potent ground game to outlast the Pine Prairie Panthers Friday night in the Evangeline Parish Jamboree. Basile’s Gabe Fontenot and Kendrick Ceasar combined for 184 yards rushing in leading the Bearcats to a 23-14 victory. A 31-yard touchdown run by Dillon Doucet and a 63-yard reception by Douglas Fontenot gave the Panthers 94 of their 163 total yards on offense as the Bearcat defense controlled Pine Prairie most of the game.
“I thought our defense did a really outstanding job all night,” said Bearcat Head Coach Kevin Bertrand. “We have a few things to tidy up on defense but overall I’m pleased with the defense. On the long run by Doucet, we had a couple of players out of position and missed their assignments. You can’t do that with an athlete like Doucet and he took it to the house. We just misjudged the ball on the long pass to Fontenot. We are going to work on some things defensively this week to make sure we are where we need to be for next week. This is what jamborees are for.”
The first score of the contest came off of a fortuitous break for the Bearcats. With Pine Prairie backed up on their own 20 yard line and facing a fourth and 16, the Panthers were forced to punt. The snap was mishandled by punter Zack Leggett and Basile tackled him at the five yard line. On the ensuing play, Gabe Fontenot took the handoff from Mark Ivory off left tackle and trotted into the endzone for the first score of the game. Mark Ledoux tacked on the extra point and the Bearcats led 7-0 with 10:34 left in the first half.
Basile’s next score came on a long drive that started at their own 42 yard line with 5:02 left in the first half. On first and 10, Gabe Fontenot picked up four yards off of left tackle. On second down, Kendrick Ceasar picked up three short yards as the Panther defense bottled up the Bearcat running back. Facing a third and three, Fontenot raced for a 10-yard run to give Basile a first down. On the following play, quarterback Mark Ivory hit Jarred Belle on a bubble screen. Belle bolted down the left sideline for a 29-yard gain to the Panther 10 yard line. The Panther defense buckled down and stopped Basile on three straight plays. The Bearcats elected to attempt a field goal on fourth down at the Panther six yard line with six seconds left in the half. Mark Ledoux was true from 23 yards out as Basile added three more points to take a 10-0 lead at the half.
Pine Prairie came out of the locker room knowing they were receiving the pigskin to start the second half and they wasted no time in climbing back into the ball game. The Panthers started their first drive of the second half from their own 44 yard line. A first down run by Keenon Roy netted only one yard. On second and nine, Joshua Fontenot took the handoff from Dillon Doucet for a two-yard gain. A perfect option pitch from Doucet to Ardoin on third down netted 15 yards for the Panther offense. With the ball resting on Basile’s 38 yard line, Doucet raced 38 yards on the keeper around the right side for Pine Prairie’s first score of the night. Sylas Carson added the extra point and with 13:02 left in the second half.
After receiving the kickoff, the Bearcats wasted no time responding to the Panther touchdown. The Bearcats used up 5:22 of clock on their next drive and tacked on another seven points with a one-yard touchdown run from Gabe Fontenot, his second of the night. Starting from their 35 yard line, Basile chewed up 65 yards, all on the ground during the long drive. Ceasar carried the load on the drive, gaining 56 of the 65 yards by himself. The extra point was good by Ledoux and Basile extended its lead to 17-7 with 7:33 left in the second half.
The Panthers did not take long in answering Basile on the following possession. Pine Prairie needed only five plays to cross the goal line and cut the Bearcat lead to three. The big play came on a 63-yard pass from Doucet to Douglas Fontenot. Doucet’s scrambling ability allowed Fontenot to sneak in behind the Bearcat secondary for the deep pass. After two runs by Doucet, Fontenot took the handoff and plunged in to score from one yard out. Carson’s extra point was good, making the score 17-14 Basile with 4:55 left to go in the game.
The Bearcat running game once again took control as Basile drove 65 yards for the second time in the game, scoring with 58 seconds left in the contest. Kendrick Ceasar’s 38-yard touchdown run capped off the Bearcat scoring drive. The extra point was no good and Basile’s lead grew to 23-14.
Basile ended the night with 213 yards of total offense, all of it on the ground. Ceasar led all rushers with 105 yards on 17 carries. Gabe Fontenot added 79 yards on 14 carries.
“I knew that Gabe would be able to give us some things when people are keying on Kendrick,” stated Bertrand. “It helps Kendrick to be successful when Gabe is carrying the ball so well. When you are pounding Fontenot on the inside all game, eventually Kendrick will benefit later in the game. I take my hat off to Pine Prairie for not allowing Kendrick to get going early.”
For the Panthers, Douglas Fontenot gained 47 yards on five carries while Dillon Doucet added 33 yards on four carries. Doucet went 1-2 in the passing game, throwing for 63 yards. The one completion thrown was to Fontenot.
“I am pleased with the effort of our players tonight,” Panther Head Coach Yves Prince said. “The kids played hard. Even when were down by 10 points, we never gave up and battled back to cut the score to 10-7. You have to give their offensive line credit. They have two great backs and it showed tonight. I’m pleased with the big plays tonight, but we really need to get our running game going. Our offensive line has to come off the ball a little more. Defensively, we did too much hand tackling. When we did wrap up their backs, we brought them down. The defense is going to get better.”
The Bearcats travel to Sacred Heart next week to take on the Trojans. Sacred Heart lost to Central Catholic of Morgan City in the Kiwana’s Jamboree on Friday by a score of 14-0. Pine Prairie will host North Central in the opening game of the regular season.