The waiting game

VILLE PLATTE - The Ville Platte Bulldogs dropped their last game of the season, 50-6, to the Church Point Bears Friday evening.
And, in doing so, they may have dropped out of the playoff picture, too.
Heading into the game, the Bulldogs were ranked No. 29 in the state power rankings. The top 32 teams in Class 3A will earn berths into the state playoffs.
“We might still sneak in,” Bulldog head coach Jorie Randle commented after the game. “It will be difficult due to our non-district schedule, but it could still happen. Right now, it’s out of our hands. We’ll just have to wait to see.”
Church Point, on the other hand, was ranked No. 27 heading into the game. The Bears almost certainly will make the playoffs, giving District 5-3A will send at least three teams in the post-season.
The playoff pairings will be announced Sunday afternoon by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association.
The Bulldogs finish the regular season at 5-5 and 2-3 in District 5-3A. Church Point finishes the year at 3-7 and 3-2 in district. Undefeated and sixth-ranked Northwest wins the district title.
Friday evening, Church Point dominated the Bulldogs in all phases of the game. The Bears had seven offensive possessions in the game, scoring on six of them, including once from the JV squad. Church Point also scored on a punt return.
The Bears had over 400 yards of total offense, 342 of it on the ground. Church Point gained most of its yards running the same two plays over and over: an inside trap and speed sweep.
Defensively, the Bears shut down Ville Platte’s attack. The Bulldogs were held to less than 200 total yards.
“We can’t make excuses,” acknowledged Randle. “Football is a team sport, but it is made up of individual one-on-one match-ups. Church Point won more of those battles than we did. They executed their plays, and we couldn’t stop them.”
“We had plans to mix up our offense, but after we fell down by such a big margin, we had to become one-dimensional,” Randle continued. “When a team knows what you’re going to do, it’s important that you execute your plan perfectly if you expect success. We didn’t do that.”
Nevertheless, Randle looked at the loss philosophically.
“This was a humbling loss,” he said. “However, we can look at it and see some positive outcomes. It would have been easy for us to quit. But, we didn’t. Our players played hard to the end.”
Church Point scored twice in the first quarter, both of them 30-yard runs right up the gut by tailback Rodney Dupuis. The Bears scored a two-point conversion the first time and added an extra point by Austin Manuel the second time. Manuel was a perfect 6-6 on PATs.
Ville Platte’s defense had its lone success to start the second quarter, forcing a turnover on downs, and giving the ’Dogs the ball with an opportunity to cut the 15-0 lead.
However, Church Point’s defense forced a punt, which Dupuis returned 40 yards for a touchdown.
The Bulldogs finally got on the scoreboard following a 30 yard Dantony Anderson kickoff return. Their 52-yard scoring drive was capped by a 16-yard Anderson touchdown reception. The two-point conversion failed, cutting the lead to 22-6.
It wouldn’t last long. Church Point scored twice in three minutes to take a 36-6 lead into the locker room. The Bears scored on a four-yard Trey Babineaux run and a one-yard Dupuis plunge.
After halftime, Ville Platte managed to drive down to the Bears’ four-yard line. However, the ’Dogs faltered, turning the ball over on downs on the two-yard line.
Church Point then put together a 98-yard drive. The game was in running time, so the drive ate up more than half of the third quarter. Babineaux scored on a two-yard run.
In the fourth quarter, both teams had their second-string on the field. Church Point’s JV scored on a 30-yard run to finish the scoring, 50-6.