Trojans lose late in wild shootout with Hornets

In one of the wildest games in Sacred Heart history, the Trojans gave every ounce of energy and pride in a heartbreaking loss to Catholic of Pointe Coupee at Soileau-Landry field by a score of 55-51. Both teams combined for almost 1,100 yards of total offense in the game. The Hornets scored with 17.9 seconds left to steal the victory away from the Trojans. Sacred Heart battled its way back from a 28-point deficit in the second half, scoring 30 unanswered points, before coming up just short in the end. The Trojans are now 4-4 on the year and 2-1 in district. More importantly, Sacred Heart does not pick up the 10 power points needed to remain in the hunt for the playoffs.
With 106 points put up between both teams, it did not take long for someone to score first. Nicholas Lahaye took the opening kickoff for the Trojans and brought the ball to the Sacred Heart 42 yard line. On the very first offensive play, quarterback Joshua Lahaye threw a deep sideline route to Mikey Laughlin, who shook the Hornet defender and strolled his way to a 58-yard touchdown reception. Bevan Dupre tacked on the extra point and with only 15 seconds gone in the game, Sacred Heart led 7-0.
Not to be outdone, Catholic received the ensuing kickoff and brought the ball up to their 33 yard line. Two plays later the Hornets found pay dirt as Jacob Juge took the handoff up the middle from 25 yards out. The extra point snap was mishandled and with 11:24 left in the first quarter, Sacred Heart led 7-6.
Both teams exchanged possessions with Catholic penetrating to the Trojan 15 yard line. On fourth and five from the Sacred Heart 15 yard line, the Hornet pass was too high in the back of the end zone. Sacred Heart took over on downs at their 15 yard line. On the fourth play of the series, a bad exchange on the option pitch from Lahaye to Scully resulted in a fumble. Catholic fell on the football at the Trojan 21 yard line. Five plays later, Hornet quarterback Jonas Guichet scored on a two yard touchdown run. Catholic decided to go for the two-point conversion and was successful as Guichet hit Vandergrift for the pass in the back of the end zone. With 3:37 left in the first quarter, the Hornets now led 14-7.
The Trojans, not to be outdone, took the next possession and once again scored on one play. Caleb Soileau took the ensuing kickoff and carried Hornet defenders up to the Sacred Heart 41 yard line. On first down, Lahaye and Laughlin ran a picture perfect option play on the left side. Laughlin took the pitch and raced his way to the end zone for a 59-yard touchdown run. Dupre added the extra point and the Trojans had now tied the game up 14-14 with 3:13 left to go in the first quarter.
The Hornets wasted no time in the second quarter to add to their lead. Guichet threw the 15-yard touchdown pass to Vandergrift in the back of the end zone. The extra point was good from Vandergrift and with 11:52 left to go in the second quarter, the Hornets now led 21-14.
Sacred Heart took the next possession and drove all the way to the Hornet 27 yard line. On fourth down, an incomplete pass from Lahaye gave Catholic the ball on the change of possession. The Hornets drove down to the Trojan 32 yard line in five plays. On third down, Guichet let loose a deep sideline pass that Juge caught in the end zone for the score. An unsportsmanlike penalty had the Hornets attempting a 35 yard extra point. However, Juge did not blink and split the uprights to give Catholic a 28-14 lead with 4:59 left to go before half.
An attempted onside kick by the Hornets was recovered by John Christian Lahaye of the Trojans at their 44 yard line. Amazingly, for the third time in the game, Sacred Heart was able to score in one play. Lahaye threw a perfect strike to Laughlin down the sideline and raced his way for the 56 yard touchdown. Dupre tacked on the extra point and with 4:44 left in the second quarter, the Trojans had cut the Hornet lead to 28-21.
The Hornets took over possession of the football and were unable to move the ball, forcing them to punt. The punt by Guichet rolled all the way down to the Sacred Heart four yard line. On the third play of the drive, Lahaye tried to hit Scully on the veer pass and was intercepted by Boyd Smith who trotted into the end zone for the touchdown. The extra point by Vandergrift was true and the Hornets now led 35-21 with 1:36 left in the first half.
Unbelievably, the Hornets were not done scoring in the first half. Catholic forced Sacred Heart to punt on its next possession. The punt was downed at the Hornet 41 yard line with 48.1 seconds left in the first half. Four plays later, Guichet hooked up with Juge on the corner pass in the end zone for a 15 yard touchdown. Vandergrift added the extra point and Catholic now led 42-21 with 9.3 seconds left in the second quarter.
The Trojans would come out in the second half and put together one of the most amazing comebacks in the Halls of Troy history. After the Hornets scored on a 20 yard interception return by Mason Crabtree to go ahead 49-21, Sacred Heart would score five times in the second half to take the 51-48 lead with 48 seconds to go in the game. The Sacred Heart defense was outstanding and the offense caught fire. Unfortunately, the comeback could not be sustained the entire half. The Hornets would answer with a score of its own with 17.9 seconds to go in the game to edge out the Trojans.
Sacred Heart scored twice in the third quarter. Dylan Scully dashed his way into the end zone from 34 yards out to cut the Hornet lead to 49-27 with 6:01 left in the third quarter. The two point conversion was no good. The second score of the quarter came also came on a Scully run, this time from 30 yards out. Once again, the two point conversion was no good and the Trojans had sliced the deficit down to 49-33 with 2:56 left to go in the third stanza.
The Trojans continued their comeback in the fourth quarter, scoring three times in the period. The first touchdown came on a slant pass from Lahaye to Sam Tuminaro from 20 yards out. The two point conversion was no good. Still, Sacred Heart had now closed the lead to 10 points with the score 49-39 and 8:18 left in the game. An 85 yard interception return by Jacques Fontenot cut the Hornet lead again. The extra point attempt failed, but the score now was 49-45 with 5:45 left in the final stanza. The next score came when Scully bulled his way into the end zone from one yard out. The extra point was good by Dupre and amazingly the Trojans now had the lead 52-49 with 48 seconds left on the clock.
Catholic mounted one last drive. Guichet took the ball in from four yards out with 17.9 seconds left to finish the scoring. The two point conversion was no good, but it would not matter as Catholic had escaped with a 55-51 win.
On the night, Sacred Heart ran 61 plays for 569 yards of total offense. Mikey Laughlin was a versatile star for the Trojans as he had five carries for 104 yards and a touchdown. Laughlin also added 154 yards receiving and two touchdowns. Scully added 224 yards on the ground and three touchdowns. Lahaye finished the night eight of 18 passing for 216 yards and three touchdowns.
The Hornets managed to run 68 plays on offense for a total of 515 yards. Catholic rushed for 206 yards and passed for 309 yards. Leading the way for the Hornets was Guichet, who threw 31 times and completed 18 passes for 309 yards and three touchdowns.
“When we went into half time three scores down, we did not make any adjustments because we did not feel we needed to,” said Sacred Heart Head Coach Gary Adkins. “They had made some really big plays where we were in position to not give them those plays. Unfortunately, we came out on the short end of a really good high school football game. I was really proud of our players. They could have packed it in at half, but they fought hard in the second half, especially the defense. The defense has played really well for about a month. We changed our scheme and those guys have adjusted well.”
With the loss, the Trojans now even their record. Sacred Heart will travel to Bastrop to take on Beekman Charter. This game is a replacement game for the open date created when Pointe Coupee Central was shut down and merged with Livonia. The Trojans need wins to continue to keep their playoff hopes alive. For Sacred Heart, 16 is the magic number as the LHSAA only takes the top 16 in Division IV.