No. 5 Basile hopes to keep winning

If Basile Head Coach Tony Bertrand didn’t make believers out of his team in week one after his team demolished Sacred Heart, they have to be now. The Bearcats are 4-0 on the year and have shown a dominating performance in three out of the four contests.
Last week, Basile obliterated Merryville 42-6 and let the rest of District 4-1A know they are coming and they are for real.
“We played really good and we are healthy,” Bertrand. “That is the big point right now. We have to stay healthy.”
Basile piled up nearly 400 yards of total offense against Merryville and held the Panthers to less than 130 yards. Most of the 130 yards came against the Basile’s second and third string players.
The Cats’ defensive unit has been nothing less than dominating. Only St. Ed’s was able to put up more than one score against BHS. The Cats held every other opponent thus far to just one score. What’s more impressive than the statistics is the actual members of the Basile defense. Most of the players are new to the group and have simply bought in to what Bertrand and his hard-working coaching staff have done.
While the defense has done a great job of getting the offense the ball, quarterback Mark Ivory has helped to orchestrate Basile to wins. Ivory, who threw for 102 yards last week has found himself to be the cornerstone of an offense that has found balance.
Ivory threw for 102 yards last week against Merryville, and the team ran for over 200 yards. Ivory hit Kendrick Ceasar and Mason Deshotel en route to the win. Ceasar, who came in this year with high expectations, has not let anyone down including himself. He sprinted to 177 yards last week and in quickly closing in on 1,000 yards. Clintrell Sias and Mason Deshotel also did a lot of carrying the football last week.
While Bertrand and company continue to win in classy fashion, the Cats are being noticed around the state. Basile was ranked fifth when the Class 1A marks came out last week.
This week, Basile hosts Hamilton Christian. The Warriors are 1-3 on the season. Their only win came against South Cameron last week. The Warriors shut down the Tarpons 21-0.
HCA has not put up the biggest numbers this year. They have scored just 49 points this season, but seem to always get better around district. Opponents have scored 97 points against the Warriors this season, and that should work well tomorrow night for the Basile boys.
Basile is the overall favorite to win tomorrow night and that is the goal. However, Bertrand would also like to keep everyone healthy.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Basile.