Trojans fall to Cougars in OT

The Cougars of Point Coupee Central will remember a lot of games from the 2013 season. They may even go on and battle for the Class 1A crown, who knows? One thing for sure, they will never forget the night the Sacred Heart Trojans came to town for homecoming and gave them the game of their life. The Cougars narrowly escaped with a 26-20 overtime win, but that is the only victory they really won. On paper and on every other level, the Trojans took the win. 

Going into the game, SHHS Asst. Coach James Shiver was compelled to make a quote from a Rocky IV movie, “they are not a machine.” While Shiver was referring to a quote in the movie about the mighty Russian fighter that Rocky Balboa take down. He was directing the quote to the Trojans to stop the scoring machine of the Cougars. Point Coupee Central came into the game averaging points per game. Like Rocky, the Trojans rose to the situation and held the Cougars to half of their average. 

They also accomplished most of their game plan. That plan was to slow the Cougars down by keeping their offense off of the field and put together long drives that produced points. The Trojans held the football for nearly 30 minutes of a 48 minute contest. 

In true PCC fashion, the Cougars scored on their first possession of the game. As quick as the game began, they were in the end zone on a short slant pass play. They also converted the two-point conversion. 

The Trojans got a big return on the ensuing kickoff as Ellis Parrott returned it to the PCC 40-yard line. Runs from Grant Manuel and Wesley Fontenot moved the pigskin downfield. The slow well played drive was highlighted by the SHHS offensive line that smashed the PCC defensive line in the mouth over and over. The drive came to a halt on a fourth down and six yards to go inside the PCC red zone. 

The Cougars drove the field quickly on their next possession, but this time it was the SHHS defense that stood tall on a  fourth down. 

In the second quarter, both teams traded the ball a few times with no points coming out of it. Penalties hurt the Cougars on their drives and an interceptions stalled the Trojans first possession of the frame. 

Sacred Heart got back to doing their thing by holding the ball and putting up a strong drive. Wesley Fontenot broke a run for 42 yards and crossed into PCC territory. At that point, short runs from the SHHS running backs moved the clock and the football. The nickle and dime effect also tapped the stamina of the PCC D-unit. Sacred Heart moved into the red zone. A holding call backed them out of the zone and that was followed by an end-around play that was completely off the mark. On fourth down and a long way to go, Fontenot was sacked, ending the drive with no points, but less than two minutes left to go in the game. 

Those two minutes proved to be too long. A quick hitting pass play moved the Cougars down field and they eventually moved into the SHHS end zone. The two-point conversion attempt was no good. 

The Trojans went into the half down just 14-0. Many teams had not been so fortunate against PCC, especially playing in Morganza. The fans, field and officials are usually enough to subdue any team who has to go to there. 

To begin the second half, the Cougars were not looking to allow the Trojans to hang around. They scored quickly on their first possession and made it look easy. Again they went for the two-point conversion and again they came up short. 

Sacred Heart did not deviate from their plan. They went back to moving the ball slowly and getting down field. On their first possession of the second half, they moved the football to the football all the way down to the PCC nine-yard line. Big runs from Manuel and Fontenot helped the momentum, but the Trojans came up short on a fourth down situation. 

As the third quarter came to a close, it was the Trojans who benefited from a turnover. A missed lateral pass ended up in Sacred Heart’s hands and that boosted momentum to their sidelines and into the fourth quarter. 

Ellis Parrott bolted for a huge run at the top of the quarter, The effort put the football at the PCC 11-yard-line. Manuel capped the drive with a straight run for six points. Bevan Dupre added the extra point, making it a 20-7 contest. 

The SHHS defense continued to do good things. They held PCC to one possession. In a very rare occurrence, the Cougars had to punt. It was obvious they have not punted often as they booted just a three-yard punt. 

Sacred Heart could not take advantage of the situation as they lost the football to a fumble. That didn’t last long though, as the fumble bug returned to bite the home team and give the ball right back to the local boys. 

The Trojans did not waste much time this time around. A screen play to Ellis Parrott took advantage of the over pursuit by the PCC linemen. Parrott bolted for a big gain and moved the ball to the Cougars’ two-yard line. After an odd trio of attempts to run the ball right up the middle came up empty. The Trojans found the end zone on a Wesley Fontenot run for two yards. The extra point kick was good from Dupre and it was a one touchdown game with a little less than four minutes left to play.  

The SHHS defensive line rose up big time on PCC’s next possession and forced a quick three and out situation. 

The Trojans had one more drive in them. They would begin at their own 33-yard-line. A series of runs from Fontenot moved the ball across mid-field. A holding call slowed down the drive a little but not enough to kill the momentum. On a third down, Fontenot connected with Philip Vidrine for a gain of 32 yards. That moved the ball inside the Cougars’ red zone. 

Moments later, Fontenot connected with Mikey Laughlin, getting the football to the one-yard-line. With seconds left to play, Fontenot called his own number and scored the Trojans’ third score of the night. The extra point kick was the moment of awe. If Dupre hit it, it would certainly end the game. If not, overtime was going to happen. Dupre had hit every kick before and he knew he was going to nail this one. Instead, the Cougars blocked it, forcing overtime. 

In the OT period, the Trojans came up short when they got the ball at the 10-yard-line. With most of the momentum sucked from the SHHS sideline, it wouldn’t take long for the PCC athletes to do their things. The Cougars scored on their very first play and ended the game. 

The Trojans fall for the first time since week two. The contest shows mountains of improvement for the boys in blue and gold. They fall to 5-3 overall and 3-1 in league play. Sacred Heart will head to St. Ed’s next week to take on the Blue Jays. This battle could determine who gets a home contest in week one and who doesn’t. Either way, the Trojans should be looking to build on this awesome performance. “I am so proud of these guys,” said Head Coach Doug Guillory. “They never gave up and we really took it to them. This game actually came down to three plays in which they scored and shouldn’t have. Big plays where weren’t ready and we missed tackles.”

The second-year head coach was really impressed with his defensive unit’s performance. 

“I been saying all year that we have a good defense,” he explained. “Tonight we showed it. I hope our guys believe now that it we can play with them (PCC) we can play with anyone. We have all the tools to be very dangerous in the playoffs and that is what we want. If we keep building on this, no one will want to play us.” 

PCC moves to 7-2 on the year and 4-0 in league play. With a home contest against North Central in week 10, it’s most likely the Cougars will finish with a 5-0 mark in league play.