Dogs blank Demons

Taking advantage of the big play, the Ville Platte Bulldogs blanked the Mamou Demons, 30-0, Thursday evening at home to open the 2015 football season.
Next week, both teams hit the road for Week 2. The Bearcats travel to Ville Platte, while Mamou visits East Beauregard.
Against the Demons, Ville Platte scored on four touchdowns of 30 or more yards and two safeties. Five of the six scores came in the first half. After a scoreless third quarter, Ville Platte scored again in the last frame.
The Bulldogs took the early lead on a flair pass from Terez Alfred to Jaishaun Doucet, who sneaked out of the backfield along the left sideline. Doucet caught the short pass, hit the sideline, and turned on the jets, racing for a 50-yard touchdown.
Rodricus Fontenot nailed the Point After Try, and Ville Platte led, 7-0, with barely three minutes gone in the game.
The next two Ville Platte scores came because of superlative defensive line play. The Bulldog defense controlled the line of scrimmage, constantly stuffing the Demon runners in the backfield.
Midway through the first quarter, college prospect Vondarius Freeman sacked Demon signal caller Levi Fontenot for a safety.
At the start of the second quarter, the defensive line pushed Mamou back to its goal line. On fourth down, the Mamou punter stepped out of the back of the end zone, conceding the safety rather than risk a block and recovery for a touchdown.
Ville Platte scored two more times in the second quarter, both touchdowns. Daylon Jones rattled off a 30-yard run, crossing the goal line with about five minutes until halftime.
After forcing a fourth down on the next Demon possession, Alfred misplayed the catch on the punt return. However, the senior recovered well and raced 80 yards for a touchdown.
The Bulldogs missed both PATs, taking a 23-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Following intermission, neither team managed to move the ball well in the third quarter.
Mamou did have a better go of it, resorting to a quick passing game that caught Ville Platte off-guard.
Fontenot was able to hit five passes on nine attempts in the third quarter. The throws were mostly for short gains, but it exploited some gaps in the Bulldog secondary.
The last possession for the first-string Bulldog offense straddled the last two quarters.
With Mamou beginning to tire out, Ville Platte’s offensive line started to open up some holes.
Three plays into the fourth quarter, Jones hit a seam for 39 yards and a touchdown.
Fontenot made the extra point, ending the scoring for Ville Platte, which put in its jayvee for the remaining ten minutes of the game.
Jones led all runners with 104 yards and two touchdowns. He also fumbled twice.
After the game, second-year Bulldog head coach Jorie Randle was happy with the victory, but concerned with some of the sloppy play.
“We’ve got the victory, and that’s the point of playing the game,” Randle said. “It’s great to start off the season with a win to set the tone, especially against a parish rival.
“But,” he continued, “we’ve got to be more consistent in giving total effort for all 48 minutes.”
Randle was especially critical of the opening minutes of the game, when the Bulldogs “got off to a funky start”.
However, he praised Alfred for handling the situation like a seasoned player.
“I definitely want to commend Terez,” Randle said. “We stunk it up to start the game, and I chewed him up. But, he kept his composure, took command in the huddle, and got our guys back on track.”
Randle was also pleased with Jones’ performance.
“Daylon has good speed,” he noted, “but we’ve got him in the game to be our north-south runner. He has a role to play in this offense, and when he does it, we’re successful.”
Nevertheless, the Bulldog skipper took note of two major errors by the tailback.
“Those fumbles were critical,” Randle assessed. “We were going in for scores on those drives. When we’re going to be in close games against district opponents, we can’t have those unforced errors.
“But, Daylon is tough and a quick learner. He won’t make those mistakes again.”
Demon head coach Brian Brumfield lamented his team’s offensive performance.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said. Brumfield, who is also in his second year, said that his quarterback is learning the job as he goes.
“We had to make a major change at quarterback right at the beginning of the season,” Brumfield said. “Our QB (Levi Fontenot) has been at the helm for just four weeks, so his learning curve is pretty steep.
“He plays hard and wants to improve,” Brumfield continued, “and the improvement will come with more playing time under his belt. He did play well tonight in spurts.”