Basile out muscles Westminster 33-13

BASILE -- It was a tale of two halves Thursday night, as the Basile Bearcats dominated the second half of play in a 33-13 win over the Westminster Crusaders in a key District 5-1A contest.
Basile and Westminster were in a back and forth struggle for control of the game the entire first half as indicated by the 14-13 Bearcat lead heading into the locker room.
However, Basile came out in the second half and shredded the Westminster run defense for 230 yards on the ground and scored three unanswered touchdowns as they blew past the Crusaders.
“We kept plugging away at them,” said Basile head coach Kevin Bertrand. “We knew where we wanted to hit them. We practiced all week long on our game plan and the players did an excellent job of executing that game plan. We knew we were going to get to them eventually and it showed in the second half.”
The first inflicted wounds were self induced by the Bearcats. Basile fumbled the ball on their first possession deep inside their territory. Westminster put together a short drive that stalled at the Bearcat 17-yard line.
The Crusaders elected to kick a field goal and Gene Kraemer nailed it through the uprights from 34-yards out to give Westminster an early 3-0 lead.
Basile would answer on their next possession, as Gabe Fontenot fought his way in to the end zone from four yards out. Tray David tacked on the extra point to give the Bearcats the 7-3 lead with 6:18 remaining in the first quarter.
The two teams exchanged scores in the second quarter. Westminster took the lead again on a one yard run from
Wesley Tomlinson. With the extra point it was now 10-7 in favor of the Crusaders.
Basile would get a touchdown late in the first half as Fontenot busted through on a 34-yard touchdown run with :56 left in the second quarter. David added the extra point and the Bearcats had the 14-10 lead.
The Crusaders were not done. Westminster tacked on another Kraemer field goal, this time from 25-yards out, as time expired to end the first half, cutting the Beacat lead to 14-13.
As the second half opened, the Bearcats came out with a powerful resolve to put the game away. Fontenot scored three more times in the third quarter on runs of 35, 4 and 45-yards, as Basile busted the game wide open.
Fontenot would finish the night with 260 yards rushing on 20 carries and five touchdowns. Jarrod Belle added another 91 yards on 10 carries for the Bearcats.
“We are going to take it game by game now,” stated Bertrand. “We have to make sure that we are consistent in our play going down the stretch. We cannot concern ourselves with how we are ranked, our focus has to be each game.”
Basile is now 6-1 on the year and 2-0 in district play. The Bearcats will host False River this coming Friday in another district game.