Red Devils issue first loss to Bearcats

PORT BARRE -- With the cool temperatures finally starting to feel like football weather, the Port Barre Red Devils heated up in the second half, using two fourth quarter touchdowns to defeat the Basile Bearcats.
At halftime, the Red Devils trailed 7-6, and the contest looked evenly matched, with Basile having a slight advantage.
Port Barre took control of the tight contest midway through the third quarter, going on a six minute drive that ended on the Bearcat 15-yardline only because of a penalty.
After shutting down Basile to end the quarter, Port Barre scored on its next two possessions to pull ahead for the win.
The Bearcats, who travel to North Central next week for their district opener, fall to 4-1. Port Barre improves to 4-1. The Red Devils open district at Church Point next week.
When asked about the difference between the two halves, Bearcat head coach Kevin Bertrand pointed out the Red Devils size and depth advantage.
“They just wore us out,” Bertrand said. “They controlled the line of scrimmage, and we didn’t. They got after us a little bit, and we didn’t play our best game.”
In the team huddle after the game, he told his players that the loss could be used as a character-building opportunity.
“This was a tough loss,” he said. “Hopefully we can use this thing as motivation to pick ourselves up and learn from this.
“We’ve got to get better as coaches and as a team. This is a test of the heart, to see if we can get back up. We’ve got to play like we’ve got a chip on our shoulder now.”
Basile used a bit of an unconventional, if not a gimmick, play for the opening score of the game.
On their second drive of the game, the Bearcats benefited from a roughing the kicker call on a punt, extending the drive. Four plays later, facing another fourth down, Bertrand called a swinging gate formation.
The confused Red Devils left Blaise Hebert open, and Trey David hit him for an 11-yard pass. Hebert slipped a tackle and raced to the end zone. David pushed the ball over the crossbar for the extra point, and Basile led 7-0 at the start of the second quarter.
On the next Bearcat drive, defensive back Matt Leger made a great tipped-pass interception, giving Port Barre the ball back in Basile territory.
The Red Devils showed that they were becoming more dominant on the line of scrimmage.
Port Barre scored nine plays later, with JJ Sylvester crossing the goal line from one yard out. The point-after-try failed, and Port Barre trailed 7-6 at the half.
Port Barre hurt itself on the first drive of the third quarter, picking up two penalties for 25 yards and killing its momentum.
However, the Red Devil defense quickly forced a four-and-out to get the offense the ball back.
On its second drive, Port Barre showed that it was in control of the line of scrimmage.
Starting on its 39-yardline, the Red Devils pounded out 11 straight running plays, picking up three first downs.
Unfortunately for the Red Devils, on fourth-and-one, there was a bad exchange between the quarterback and Sylvester. Bearcat Jeremy Clark gobbled up the ball, ending the Port Barre scoring threat temporarily.
Once again, the Red Devil defense forced a punt to start the fourth quarter. Port Barre scored on the next drive, with Tevin Tyler plunging into the end zone on a one-yard run, making it 12-7.
The Bearcats intercepted the two-point conversion try, leaving them with more than eight minutes to try to score again for the win.
Basile, however, couldn’t put a drive together, and were forced to punt. The ensuing play was extremely controversial, and gave a great advantage to Porte Barre.
On the punt, a Bearcat was flagged for a horse-collar tackle. The flag was thrown by the line judge on the other side of the field from the play.
Meanwhile, the two closest officials did not see anything wrong with tackle. The Basile coaches bitterly complained, but the head referee upheld the call.
Consequently, Port Barre started its drive on the Bearcat 35-yardline. Three plays later, Sylvester scored on a three-yard run. Basile stuffed the two-point try, putting the score 18-7.
Basile couldn’t manage anything on its last two drives, which featured incomplete pass after incomplete pass, and Port Barre defenders constantly harassing the Basile quarterback.
Sylvester, who started the game with just 24 yards in the first half, ended as the leading rusher with 103 yards and two scores.
On the game, Basile only managed 82 total yards, including just ten yards rushing, after the losses on sacks were subtracted from their total.