Losing ground

PRAIRIE RHONDE- The Ville Platte High Bulldogs came into Friday night’s game against the Northwest Raiders hoping to stay in playoff contention.
But, those chances took a big blow, as the Bulldogs fell to the Raiders 6-0 in a hard fought defensive war.
This is the fourth game this season that Ville Platte has played in that was decided by seven points or less. The Bulldogs are now 2-2 in those games.
With the loss, Ville Platte falls to 4-4 on the season and 1-2 in district play.
It was not a good night for both offensive units. Ville Platte gathered a paltry 112 yards of total offense, while Northwest faired only slightly better, collecting only 132 yards in the game.
Despite the offensive woes, the Bulldogs did manage to get inside the Raider territory four times, only to come away empty handed on the scoreboard.
Like two prize fighters feeling each other out, Ville Platte and Northwest danced around each other exchanging possessions the first two times each team had the football.
On their third possession of the game, the Raiders did manage to sneak inside of Bulldog territory to the 31-yard line.
However, Ville Platte’s brick wall defense stymied Northwest on fourth down, sacking quarterback Chris Lee for a six yard loss.
The Bulldog offense was not able to gain any momentum in the first half. The closest that Ville Platte came to the Northwest end zone came midway through the second quarter.
Ville Platte pinned Northwest back inside their 10-yard line and forced a meager 20-yard punt from the Raider punter.
The Bulldogs took over possession at the Northwest 29-yard line and looked like they may have something going.
However, a loss of four yards on first down and two incomplete passes stalled the drive at the Raider 25-yard line.
With neither offense offering much in the way of movement, the game went into the half a scoreless tie.
After a short kickoff to start the third quarter, the Raiders took their opening possession in great field position at their 43-yard line.
Two plays later, Lee took the ball over left tackle and scampered 46 yards down the sideline for the first score of the game.
The extra point by Alex Fontenot was no good, but with only :29 seconds gone in the third quarter, Northwest held the 6-0 lead.
Ville Platte took the ensuing kickoff and began a decent drive of their own. The Bulldogs began utilizing their big offensive front to ground out three and four yards at a time.
The Bulldogs marched inside the Raider 10-yard line. However, Northwest settled down on defense and held Ville Platte out of the end zone when a fourth down pass fell incomplete.
The Bulldogs could not mount another drive for the rest of the game and the Raiders came away with another district win.
“I thought our guys played extremely hard tonight,” said Ville Platte head coach Jorie Randall. “Depth has been a real issue for us this year. With only six seniors, we’ve been able to play only about 16 guys on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.”
“I’m proud of our players. They have given everything they have this season. We have some great kids and coaches here.”
Randall knows his team will be fighting for their playoff lives come weeks nine and ten.
“We are going to continue to play our game these next two weeks,” stated Randall. “We are not going to change anything. I just hope we can have that aha moment on offense that propels us the last two weeks of the season.”