Trojan effort falls short in loss to Blue Jays

It was a tale of two halves Friday night for the Sacred Heart Trojans, as they fell to the St. Edmund Blue Jays by the score of 28-12. The district 5-1A contest between the two long time rivals had some very important implications for Sacred Heart. With a victory, the Trojans would have almost certainly put themselves in the Division IV playoffs.
Also, Sacred Heart could have secured a tie for the district championship. Now, the Trojans must wait until Sunday to await their playoff fate.
The first half of the contest saw Sacred Heart and St. Ed’s battle back and forth like two heavyweight champions. The Trojans won the coin toss and elected to receive the football. Sacred Heart took possession of the ball at their 36 yard line after the Blue Jays had kicker Drew Brown squib the kickoff. The Trojans were able to move the ball inside of St. Ed’s territory on a 33 yard pass from Joshua LaHaye to Dylan Scully. However, Sacred Heart could not get the ball past the Blue Jay 31 yard line and turned the ball over on downs.
The Trojan defense stood tall on St. Edmund’s first possession, forcing the Blue Jays to punt. Sacred Heart began their second round of offense at the Trojan 25 yard line. Sacred Heart strung together some positive plays and moved the ball inside Blue Jay territory. Facing a fourth and 11 at the St. Ed’s 21 yard line, LaHaye hit Mikey Laughlin on a perfect pitch and catch for the touchdown. Bevan Dupre came in to attempt the extra point. The try after touchdown was no good, but Sacred Heart led 6-0 with 2:33 left in the first quarter.
The Trojan defense gave the ball back to their offense deep inside Blue Jay territory, when it stonewalled St. Ed’s on fourth and two at the Blue Jay 34 yard line. Sacred Heart’s offense took over, but could not capitalize and gave the ball back to St. Ed’s on downs at the Blue Jay 21 yard line.
The Blue Jays went on a drive of their own. Five plays later, St. Ed’s running back Zack Lafleur took the handoff and knifed his way into the end zone from six yards out. The drive was aided by a personal foul on the Trojans, which put the ball on the Sacred Heart 25 yard line. The pass on the two point conversion was knocked down. With 7:57 left to go before half time, the game was now tied 6-6.
Another squib kick by Brown was pounced on by Jacob L. Lafleur at the Trojan 39 yard line, where Sacred Heart would take over possession. Several alternating runs by Scully and Garrick Fontenot gained 48 yards and gave the Trojans a first and 10 from the Blue Jay 13 yard line. On the very next play, Scully burst over the right side of the offense and sprinted into the end zone for the touchdown. The two point conversion run was stopped short of the goal line. However, the Trojans now led 12-6 with 5:21 left to go in the second quarter.
The Blue Jays and Trojans traded possessions after the kickoff. St. Ed’s took control of the football at their 45 yard line late in the second quarter following a Trojan punt. Showing the potency of their offense, the Blue Jays drove the ball down to the Sacred Heart one yard line in less than three minutes. Drew Brown called his own number on second and goal and plunged into the end zone for the touchdown with eight seconds remaining in the first half. The two point pass was complete from Brown to Chachere and the Blue Jays led for the first time in the game 14-12.
The second half was not kind to the Trojans, as St. Ed’s was able to use their run game and some hard-nosed defensive play to pull away from Sacred Heart. The Blue Jays scored in the third and fourth quarters while not allowing the Trojans to find pay dirt, sealing the St. Ed’s victory.
In the third stanza, the Blue Jays rode the shirt tail of Lafleur and extended their lead. A fumble by Sacred Heart on their 37 yard line, gave the ball to St. Ed’s in great field possession. The Blue Jays took advantage, as four plays later Brown improvised and flipped a side arm pass to Lafleur for the two yard touchdown pass. The two point conversion was no good, but with 5:23 left in the third quarter, the Blue Jays led 20-12.
St. Edmund took control of the football to start the fourth quarter at the Trojan 27 yard line after a 14 yard punt by Sam Tuminaro from his own goal line. Forty seconds later the Blue Jays tacked on another score as Brown found Drake Brunet for the touchdown pass. Brown connected with Bergeron for the two point conversion and with 11:09 left in the game, St. Ed’s now led 28-12.
The Trojans continued to give an effort the rest of the game, but the Blue Jay defense turned away the Sacred Heart offense possession after possession. The Trojans could not put together a drive the rest of the game and finished the game with the same 28-12 deficit. St. Ed’s was able to run out the clock for the victory.
The Sacred Heart offense was held in check for most of the evening. The Trojans could only manage 156 yards of total offense. The running game never really got on track, as Sacred Heart could only gain 81 yards on 40 carries.
Leading the way for the Trojans was Scully, who rushed for 75 yards. LaHaye did throw for 75 yards on five completions.
Defensively, Sacred Heart only gave up 288 yards. However, the Blue Jays ran the football 39 times for 131 yards. Most of the rushing yardage came in the second half, when St. Ed’s needed to control the ball to seal the win.
After the game, Sacred Heart Head Coach Gary Adkins complemented his seniors for the leadership shown this year. “The seniors really set a tone for the players coming back next year,” said Adkins. “What is cool, is that I met these guys in May for the first time and for them to accept the other coaches and myself and for them to buy into the system was really big for the program. I really am going to miss the seniors. It has been a pleasure to coach a great group of young men.” Adkins was understandably disappointed in probably not making the playoffs. “I think that a team that goes 5-5 should be in the playoffs. If all of the non-select schools in 1A make the playoffs, why can’t more than 16 teams in the select division have the same opportunity? I really believe that the teams in the select division are better than the bottom teams in the non-select class. But, it is what it is. We have to live with the rules of the LHSAA.”
No matter if the Trojans make the playoffs or not, Sacred Heart has played hard all year long. The senior class has shown their leadership throughout the season. If the underclassman can follow the lead of the outgoing seniors, 2015 should be a banner year for the Trojans.