Ville Platte cannot pull out win; falls to Lafayette Christian

LAFAYETTE -- Despite more than 300 yards rushing, the Ville Platte Bulldogs dropped a heartbreaker to Lafayette Christian Academy here Friday night, 21-20, for their first loss of the season. Both teams are now 2-1 on the season.
The Bulldogs built a 20-7 lead at halftime, controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Junior Jaishaun Doucet scored all three Bulldogs touchdowns.
The part-quarterback, part-time tailback had 128 yards on 18 carries in the first half. He finished with 156 yards rushing.
Meanwhile, the Bulldog defense held the Knights to just 68 yards. It also collected two turnovers and held the Knights to just one first down in the first half. It seemed that Ville Platte had the game under control going into the locker room.
However, the Knights offense improved in the second half. And, importantly, Lafayette Christian received two very big breaks: an apparent Bulldog touchdown that was disallowed and a tremendous defensive play resulting in a Knight score.
Lafayette Christian opened the third quarter on offense. Following a 30-yard kick-off return and a 15-yard Ville Platte penalty, the Knights had the ball on the Bulldog 44-yard line.
Quarterback Zack Clement and running back Trey Breaux combined to move the ball down the field, finally scoring on a nine-yard pass. Colin LaHaye’s extra point kick cut Ville Platte’s lead to 20-14 with more than 21 minutes to play in game.
Despite the momentum boost for the Knights, Ville Platte’s offense responded well. Danthony Anderson stepped up to carry some of the load, and Ville Platte marched down inside the Knight 15-yard line. Anderson ended the game with 150 yards, 120 of them in the second half.
Then, two false start penalties backed the Bulldogs up. Two plays later, Ville Platte was facing fourth-and- six on the 16-yard line. What happened next left Ville Platte fans perplexed.
Doucet rolled left and found senior wideout Ronderkus Ben open at the front corner of the end zone. As he came down with the ball, he knocked down the front pylon with his foot, seemingly for a score.
However, an official ruled that he caught it out of bounds, a call disputed by the Ville Platte coaching staff.
“He caught it with one foot inbounds,” said flabbergasted Bulldog head coach Jorie Randle. “This is not the NFL. You don’t need two feet.”
The ball went back to Lafayette Christian, and Ville Platte lost what it thought was six more points in an increasingly competitive game.
With new life and a little luck, the Knight offense took the ball back and began moving it again. The Bulldog defense stiffened this time, with Javian Freeman collecting his second interception of the game to kill the Knight possession. Ville Platte, however, gave the ball right back on a punt.
At this point, the Knights seemed to be gaining in confidence. Its third drive of the second half straddled the third and fourth quarters, and Lafayette Christian drove all the way down to the Bulldog four-yardline.
Ville Platte’s defense rallied again. This time, lineman Breshonski Jones batted away a fourth down pass to end the Knight drive.
Then, disaster struck. Or, better, Knight linebacker Nathan Hoskins made the play of the game. On first down from the Bulldog three-yard line, Hoskins perfectly timed his rush, knocked the football loose, and recovered the ball in the end zone.
“What a huge play,” first-year Knight head coach Trev Faulk said about the play. “We had just gotten stopped. Our kids could have hung their heads and let themselves get deflated. But, instead Hoskins makes a great play, and we’ve got the lead.”
After another LaHaye extra point, the Knights suddenly found themselves leading a game that they were not in control of, 21-20, with eight minutes to play.
The Bulldogs still had a chance, however. Two possessions later, with less than a minute left, Ville Platte found itself with fourth-and-nine on the Knight 26-yard line. Randle called a play that worked beautifully in the first quarter: halfback pass.
Earlier in the game, the Bulldogs ran the flea flicker halfback pass to perfection. Doucet tossed the ball to Ben, who hit Kaybrien Ardoin on a 58-yard pass to the three-yardline. On the next play, Doucet scored the first Bulldog touchdown.
With the game on the line in the fourth quarter, on a do-or-die play, the Bulldogs called the play again. This time, the pass sailed into the end zone, but no Bulldog receiver was near it. LCA hit the victory formation for the win.
Randle was unhappy with his team’s second half performance.
“We score 20 points in the first half,” he said, “and we stunk it up in the second half. We simply didn’t execute in the second half. We don’t know how to finish yet.”
“But,” he continued, “down the road, this will help us prepare for the playoffs. We came into a hostile environment, and we let one get away. We’re going to learn from this.”
On the other sideline, Faulk was very happy to get the win.
“I’m so proud of these kids,” he said. “They have a lot of fight in them. We lost a heartbreaker, 22-20, last week,” he added. “To do what we did against a good Ville Platte team says a lot about our character.”
Next week, Ville Platte will host the 0-3 North Central Hurricanes. LCA travels to Morgan City to play Central Catholic.