Grinding to a halt

OPELOUSAS -- After grinding out over 500 yards of rushing last week against Jeanerette, the Sacred Heart Trojans barely climbed over the century mark in total offense in a 35-0 loss against the Opelousas Catholic Vikings here Thursday night.
Sacred Heart now falls to 2-3 on the season and 1-1 in district play. Opelousas Catholic moves to 3-2 and 1-1
The biggest culprits in the sharp decline in offensive production were a plethora of mistakes and terrible field position all night long.
Sacred Heart’s best starting field position in the first half was their 33 yard line. The Trojans average starting field position for the game was the 28 yard line. Add to that, 10 penalties and three turnovers and you have a recipe for a long night offensively.
“We never could flip the field position all night long,” said Trojan head coach Josh Harper. “Penalties killed us and they just beat us up front. It seemed like we were making some of the same mistakes from week one. We are going to have to get back to getting mentally prepared to play, especially next week.”
Sacred Heart received the opening kickoff to start the game and was forced to punt on their opening possession.
Opelousas Catholic took the Trojan punt up to the Sacred Heart 36-yard line but could not convert on fourth down.
The Trojans regained possession on their 27-yard line. A holding penalty on the first play pushed Sacred Heart back to their 11-yard line. The Trojans could not overcome the penalty and punted once again.
This time the Viking special teams made the best of the situation and returned the ball down to the Trojan 17-yard line. Two plays later Lynwood Hebert would get to the one-yard line and fumble in the end zone.
A mad scramble for the ball ensued and Hebert fell on the ball across the goal line for the touchdown.
Devin Bijeaux added the extra point and with 4:58 remaining in the first quarter, Opelousas Catholic held a 7-0 lead
Sacred Heart took the next possession at the 16-yard line and drove the ball up to the 37-yard line. However, two penalties halted the Trojan drive forcing Sacred Heart to punt. Once again the Vikings held great field position at their 40-yard line.
Opelousas Catholic took over and proceeded to march down to the field to the Sacred Heart one-yard line, a possession that took the rest of the first quarter and moved into the second quarter.
On first and goal, quarterback David Labbe kept the ball over the right guard for the touchdown.
Bijeaux added the extra point and with 9:54 left in the half, the Vikings now lead 14-0.
The Trojans lost major yardage on their next possession, forcing them to punt. Another good return put the Vikings in Sacred Heart territory once again..
Opelousas Catholic looked like they continue the momentum as they mounted a small drive. However, Josh Harper intercepted a Labbe pass that ended the Viking progress.
Another stalled drive force the Trojans to punt once more. A line drive punt to Opelousas Catholic return man Aaron Whipp gave him a running chance at a long return. Whipp did just that, taking the ball 38 yards for the score.
Bijeaux was true with the extra point and at the 5:26 mark of the second quarter, the Vikings were now on top by the score of 21-0; a score that stood for the rest of the half.
Opelousas Catholic opened the second half with a 39-yard drive down to the Trojan 19-yard line.On second and seven, Labbe tried to throw the fade pass into the end zone, where Julien Vidrine intercepted the ball for a touchback, killing the Viking drive.
From that point on, it was all Opelousas Catholic as the Vikings would add a score in the third quarter on an eight-yard run by Labbe.
In the fourth quarter, Opelousas Catholic capped off their night with a 13-yard run by Evan Moody.
Both extra points were good from Bijeaux, as the Vikings extended their lead to 35-0.
The best drive of the night for the Trojans occurred in the third quarter. Sacred Heart went on an 11 play 37-yard drive that unfortunately resulted in an interception.
Sacred Heart ended the night with 64 yards rushing on 36 attempts.
Leading the way on the ground for the Trojans was Garrick Fontenot, who had 29 yards on 10 carries.
Sam Tuminaro finished four of 14 for 47 yards passing and threw three interceptions.
Seth Shipp caught three passes for 38 yards to lead all Trojan receivers.
Sacred Heart will host Notre Dame next Friday in another district 5-2A contest.