Running to victory

SCHRIEVER – The Houma Christian Warriors had its home opener ruined by a powerful Sacred Heart rushing attack in 49-21 non-district loss Thursday night at Warrior Field.
The Trojans deployed the counter trap play to gash the Warriors defense for 390 yards en route to the rout.
“Anytime you come out on the wrong side of the scoreboard it’s disappointing,” said Warriors head coach Chuck Battaglia. “We improved on offense form last week to this week. Having a young bunch out there, hopefully we’re starting to gel with this offense. Defensively, we just have to keep learning and get better at tackling.”
“The effort was there. They did a great job executing our plan,” said Trojans head coach Joshua Harper. “We finally cleaned up some of the problems we’ve been having the past couple of weeks as far as fumbling, false starts and personal fouls.”
After stuffing the Warriors on their opening possession, Sacred Heart (1-2) only needed five plays to go 56 yards for the first score. Trojan quarterback Sam Tuminaro capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown dive. The Alec Gotro point after gave the Trojans a 7-0 lead with 7:55 left in the first.
Sacred Heart continued to pile on. They went 70 yards on their next drive in 10 plays, ending in a 10-yard touchdown run by Josh Harper Jr. On the ensuing Houma Christian possession,
Warrior quarterback Damien Pennison (7-of-20, 95 yards, 2 TDs passing; 12 rushes, 137 yards, TD, rushing) was intercepted by Harper at the 42-yard line. Three plays later, Tuminaro completed his only pass of the half: a six-yard touchdown to Caleb Soileau for a 21-0 Trojans lead after the first quarter.
“We preach every week fly to the ball. We did that and slowed them down,” Joshua Harper said. “We played man-to-man all night and did a great job with that.”
Houma Christian (0-3) overcame several bad snaps to finally get on the scoreboard in the second quarter. Pennison threw a short screen pass to Tyler Voisin, who scampered 44 yards up the sidelines for a touchdown. Sam Trosclair’s point after cut the Warriors deficit 21-7 with 8:25 before halftime.
Sacred Heart responded with an eight-play drive, culminating in a four-yard touchdown run by Garrett Fontenot. On the two-point conversion Nicholas LaHaye hit Soileau in the end zone.
Houma answered with an eight-play drive of its own, resulting in nine-yard touchdown pass from Pennison to Isaac Martines. On the Trojans final drive of half, Pennison intercepted Tuminaro to keep the Warriors within 29-13 at intermission.
“I’m proud of Damien’s performance,” Battaglia said. “(Thursday) he looked a little more comfortable. He did a great job throwing the ball and giving our receivers opportunities to make plays. He always made some good runs for us.”
Sacred Heart used the counter trap to score long touchdown runs on three straight possessions to begin the second half. In the third quarter, Julien Vidrine burst through the middle for scores of 20 and 34 yards, and Soileau dashed for 34 yards to put the Trojans ahead 49-13.
“We looked on film on how (Houma Christian) lined up, and they had that end kicked out wide. We felt we could get that two-hole, and it would be a successful play for us (Thursday) and it was.”
“We were weak on our responsibilities,” Battaglia explained. “Our defensive end wasn’t squeezing down. It widens the hole anytime you do that, and it puts a lot of pressure on the linebacker to play in space with a blocker coming at him.”
Pennison added a 53-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter for the game’s final score.
Houma Christian will be looking at the film and seeing the positives from Thursday game as they prepare to host Ben Franklin next Friday.
“We definitely have to clean up our penalties,” Battaglia said. “We had some long runs called back by penalties. Hopefully we’ll come back stronger next week.”
Sacred Heart will look to continue their improvement on offense and defense as they host the Jeanerette Tigers in the district opener for both clubs.
The Tigers will come into the game with a 0-3 record.