Panthers defeat inter-parish rival Demons 24-6

For the second straight year, the Pine Prairie Panthers get bragging rights over the Mamou Green Demons. The final score for this important inter-parish rivalry football game was 24-6. Both teams forced a combined 10 turnovers. The Panthers defense would capitalize on three turnovers for points. The Pine Prairie defense would only allow Mamou 167 total yards of offense and force four turnovers.
The opening drive for Mamou would start off with two running plays for four yards to bring up third and eleven. Dylan Duplechain would throw a pass that ended up being intercepted by Allen Myles and returned for 23 yards.
Pine Prairie would take over first and goal at the Mamou seven yard line. The first play for the Panthers was a run by Javon Ardoin for one yard. The next play, Dylan Doucet would fumble the snap, which was recovered by Corey Bordelon of Mamou.
Mamou would start its possession by running six plays, gaining one first down. Daniel Matthews would carry the ball for 26 yards on the drive before Mamou was forced to punt..
Pine Prairie would run one play, an interception taken in by Nathaniel Holland, before giving the ball right back to Mamou.
Mamou would then take over at the 32 yard line. Matthews ran two plays for 10 yards. Duplechain would run 15 yards on the next play. Pine Prairie’s Joshua Fontenot would intercept a Duplechin pass and return it for a touchdown 97 yards later. The extra point would be no good, and the Panthers would take the lead 6-0 with 1:53 left to play in the first quarter.
Mamou would then go three and out for zero yards. Pine Prairie would then go three and out as well. The Demons punted the ball after three penalties on fourth and 18.
On the first play of the next drive, the Panther’s Douglas Fontenot took the ball for a 53-yard touchdown. The extra point was no good again and would give Pine Prairie a 12-0 lead with 7:08 to go in the first half.
Mamou gave the ball back to Pine Prairie on the next possession, but would get it right back after an interception from Hunter Fusilier. Mamou would score off of the turnover when Kendeal Jack took it for a two-yard touchdown. The score would then be 12-6 in favor of Pine Prairie and the end of the first half.
The Panthers would come out from halftime fired up. After a short kickoff the Panthers would take over at mid-field. The first play of the drive, Fontenot took the hand off for 31 yards. On the next play, Doucet would hit Keenan Roy for 17 yards. Pine Prairie would have first and goal at the two yard line. Doucet then took the quarterback sneak in for a Panther touchdown. The extra point would be no good, and the Panthers would lead the Demons 18-6 with 9:34 left to play in the third quarter.
Mamou would then take over at the 45 yard line. A quick pass from Duplechain to Israel went for nine yards. Matthews would take the next play for three yards and a first down. Duplechain’s next pass was picked off by Myles for his second interception of the game.
After both teams traded punts, the Panthers took over at their own 45 yard line. This drive would be a total of 17 plays, which included five penalties and two fumbles. The Panthers recovered both their fumbles and only got 17 yards before Doucet would get picked off by Silas Fontenot, for his fourth interception of the night.
The Demons would then take over the ball at their own 20 yard line. Their first play would be a fumble recovered by Pine Prairie’s Dustin McDaniel. Pine Prairie then took over the ball at Mamou’s 20 yard line. It would not take long for the Panthers to find the end-zone. The very first play, Fontenot ran to the right side of the field for 20 yards and another Panther touchdown. After a missed extra point, the Panthers had a 24-6 lead, with eight minutes left to play.
The Mamou Demons would then take over the ball for four plays before turning the ball over on downs. Pine Prairie Panthers fumbled the ball on the second play of their drive, giving Mamou another possession. Mamou could not get anything else going on offense and the score remained 24-6 for the rest of the game.
Leading rusher for the Panthers was Douglas Fontenot. He carried the ball nine times for 159 yards and two touchdowns. Dylan Doucet completed four passes on 13 attempts for 74 yards. The leading receiver for the Panthers was Keenan Roy who caught two passes for 48 yards.
After the game, Head Coach Yves Prince would comment on his team’s performance. “I am very proud of our team and how they played a complete game. The kids will have to keep working hard at practice and execute during the game. Defense was excellent tonight.”
Coach Prince also said that he had a dream that Joshua Fontenot and Allen Myles would each get a pick six. His dream would come true as Fontenot and Myles would both get an interception.
Green Demons Head Coach Brian Brumfield stated “ Our team played hard but field position worked against us. Our execution was not very good. Those two factors were momentum changers in the game.”
Mamou (1-2) will travel to Sacred Heart to face the Trojans Friday Night. The Panthers (2-1) will travel to Vinton to face the 2-1 Lions.