Port Barre escapes with 18-14 win over Sacred Heart

A blocked punt midway through the last quarter led to a late touchdown, pushing the Port Barre Red Devils to an 18-14 victory over the Sacred Heart Trojans Friday evening.
Sacred Heart falls to 0-2 on the season, while Port Barre evens out its record to 1-1.
Next week, the Trojans travel to play Houma Christian. The Red Devils play Beau Chene.
Port Barre opened the scoring Friday evening on a controversial play. In fact, the opening series of the game included two plays that had the Trojan faithful up in arms.
The Red Devils began the game on offense, and they were driving the ball when an apparent fumble was recovered by Sacred Heart.
However, the officials said that an inadvertent whistle ended the play early. Instead of spotting the ball where it was inadvertently blown dead, the officials said that Port Barre was given the option to choose the result of the play or to replay the down.
The Red Devils chose to replay the down, keeping their drive alive.
Three plays later, another controversial fumble gave Port Barre the early lead. Fullback Tevun Tyler took a handoff and pushed his way near the goal line, where he was hit by several Trojan defenders.
There was no signal by the officials that a touchdown was scored, and there was no whistle ending the play.
Tyler kept churning his legs, but he was pushed back, fumbling the ball in the process.
However, as a Trojan player was falling on the loose ball, the line judge rushed in with his arms upright, signaling a touchdown. Still no whistle was blown.
By the time the Trojan player fell on the ball, a whistle sounded ending the play, with Sacred Heart in possession.
The line judge, however, ruled that Tyler had broken the plane of goal line, and he awarded a touchdown to Port Barre. The Red Devils missed the extra point attempt and led 6-0.
After forcing a Trojan punt on the ensuing possession, Port Barre scored again before the close of the first quarter. This time senior tailback JJ Sylvester did the brunt of work, helped by an 18-yard tight end dive pass.
Sylvester scored on an 11-yard run up the middle.
Once again, the Red Devils missed the point-after-try, but they appeared solidly in command, 12-0.
Sylvester later went out of the game with an injury, forcing sophomore Terrence Lemelle to fill in for him.
Sacred Heart seemed to find its groove in the second quarter, with cornerback Daniel Scully making a great interception to set up the Trojan offense on the Devil 19-yardline.
Three straight runs by Jacob Luke Lafleur ended in a Trojan touchdown. Alex Gotro nailed the PAT, and the Trojans were down just 12-7 and looking alive.
Midway through the third quarter, Sacred Heart’s single-wing offense once again was finding holes along the right side of the field, with Garrick Fontenot and Andre Doucet picking up good yardage.
On third and short, Julian Vidrine raced through a gap in the line for a 57-yard touchdown and the lead. Gotro’s kick put Sacred Heart up 14-12.
The Trojan defense stuffed Port Barre on the next series, forcing a punt. On the punt, Trojan return man JT Harper called for a fair catch, but he was hit anyway by a Red Devil.
The ensuing penalty gave Sacred Heart great field position and an opportunity to increase the lead.
The Trojan offense picked up from where it left off, moving the ball three and four yards at a time. The third quarter rolled over to the fourth quarter, and Sacred Heart was inside the Port Barre 25-yardline.
However, Sacred Heart fumbled the ball on the 23-yardline, ending a drive that looked to put the game away.
The Trojans forced another punt, and took over again on offense, this time deep in their own territory. Unable to move the ball again, Sacred Heart was forced to punt.
Unfortunately for the Trojans, the punt was blocked and recovered by a Red Devil defender. Port Barre found itself on the Trojan 18-yardline with less than six minutes to play in the game.
Three plays later, Terrence Lemelle scored on an 11-yard run. The two-point conversion failed, but Port Barre had the lead again, 18-14.
One more time, the Red Devils stopped the Trojan offense, and then ran out the clock to win the game.
“I loved our team’s effort,” praised new Trojan head coach Josh Harper. “I’m so proud of our team, proud of the way they fought to get back in the game after the setback in the first quarter.
“We’re playing better each week,” he continued. “We played ten times better tonight than last week. That’s all I can ask, that we continue to play hard and get better.
“We’ve played in two close games, and in both games we’re just a play or two away,” he said. “We’re answering the bell, but now we’ve got to learn how to finish.”
Despite playing less than three quarters, Sylvester had 93 yards rushing and a touchdown on 12 carries. His replacement, Lemelle, had 72 yards and a score on 15 carries.
Vidrine led Sacred Heart with 63 yards, most of it on his touchdown run. Garrick Fontenot was the workhorse for the Trojans, carrying the ball 16 times for 49 yards. Lafleur added 31 yards and a score.