Bulldogs await fate after tough loss to Raiders

It’s hard to believe that the regular season of high school football has already come and gone. On Friday night, many teams were playing with the hopes of getting into the playoffs and this was the mission of the Ville Platte High Bulldogs as they traveled to Prairie Rhonde to take on the Northwest Raiders. The Bulldogs have been playing hard and with a lot of heart all year. This game would be marred in controversy, as the officials were very one-sided on the number of penalty flags thrown against the Bulldogs.
Ville Platte won the coin toss and elected to receive. The Bulldogs’, Justin Ardoin, took the opening kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown. The extra point was no good and with 15 seconds off the clock Ville Platte led 6-0.
Northwest would start their first drive at the 22 yard line. The Bulldogs’ defense stood strong, forcing a fourth and four. On the punt, Ville Platte would get flagged for roughing the kicker, giving the Raiders new life. Northwest drove down the field on 16 plays and 12 Bulldog penalties.
Now the Raiders had the ball first and goal at their three yard line. Brian Broussard took the hand off for one yard. On the next play, Chris Lee ran for another yard. Facing fourth and goal, from the one yard line, Northwest made the decision to run another play. Ville Platte’s defense stuffed Lee in the backfield, forcing the Raiders to turn the ball over on downs.
The Bulldogs took over at their two yard line. Terez Alfred ran around the right side of the field for 11 yards. On the next play, Alfred would run the ball again for 12 yards. With the ball resting at the Ville Platte 25 yard line, Alfred ran the next two plays for two yards. On third and long, Dayton Jackson took the hand off and got hit at the line of scrimmage by a host of Raiders. Ville Platte was forced to punt.
Northwest took over at the Bulldogs 43 yard line. Lee threw on first down to McKensie Roberts for 15 yards. Lee ran the ball on the next play for one yard. Lee called his own number again up the middle for four yards. On fourth and six from the 25 yard line, Lee found Roberts on a screen pass. Roberts would take it 25 yards for a Raiders touchdown. The extra point by Brandon Lamonde was good, giving Northwest a 7-6 lead with 8:52 remaining the second quarter.
After a 20-yard return by Oxzabain Serie, Ville Platte started its next drive at their 44 yard line. Terese Thomas ran on first down for four yards. Alfred then called his own number for six yards. On first and 10, Alfred threw a hitch pass to Thomas for five yards, but Thomas would fumble on the play, which was recovered by the Raiders. Both teams traded punts to end the first half of play.
Northwest would receive the second half kickoff and run the their 39 yard line. The Raiders ran the ball nine straight plays, capped off by a four-yard touchdown run by Lee. Northwest attempted the two-point conversion and the pass was incomplete. With 8:30 to play in the third quarter, the Raiders lead 13-6.
Both teams’ defenses stood strong, forcing each team to go three and out. The Bulldogs started at mid-field. On the first play Alfred ran around the left side and scampered 46 yards before getting tackled at the four yard line. Alfred ran the next two plays up the middle for three yards. On third and goal at the one yard line, Ville Platte was flagged for a false start, backing them up five yards. Thomas ran the next two plays for six yards and a Bulldog touchdown. Ville Platte went for two points and Jackson took the hand off into the end zone for the two points. With 5:46 remaining, the Bulldogs would lead 14-13.
Northwest took over at their 42 yard line. Lee ran two plays for 10 yards. Now in Bulldog territory, Lee threw a pass to Roberts, who fumbled the ball. The fumble was recovered by Jackson of Ville Platte. The Bulldogs thought with three minutes remaining they could smell the victory.
However, the referees would huddle up and talk about the previous play and ended up reversing the call to an incomplete pass. This gave the Raiders new life and one last chance.
Ville Platte’s defense stuffed Lee on two straight plays bringing up third and 15. Lee dropped back and found Roberts for eight yards.
Once again the Bulldogs were penalized for roughing the passer. The penalty would give Northwest a first down at the Ville Platte 15 yard line. On the next play, Lee ran along the sideline for 15 yards and a Raider touchdown. The extra point by Lamonde was no good, giving Northwest a 19-14 lead with 1:24 remaining in the game.
On the first play after the ensuing kick-off, Alfred ran a quarterback draw for 18 yards. With three-seconds remaining, Alfred threw the ball deep and found Dylan Jones at mid-field. However, the time expired, as did the hope the Bulldogs would be making a come back.
Alfred finished the game with 118 yards rushing on 15 carries.
Ville Platte now awaits their fate on making the playoffs. The Bulldogs must be one of the top 32 power ranked teams in order to make the playoffs. The announcement will come Sunday from the LHSAA.
After the game Head Coach Jorie Randle praised his team for fighting hard for four quarters. “Our guys played extremely hard tonight,” commented Randle. “At times it seemed like we had to play against 12 with all of the flags thrown against us. I am very proud of our seniors. They have been leaders all year long and have shown the underclassman how to be a true Bulldog.”