An emotional roller coaster
October 3, 2018
Colonels score blowout win over Lamar
October 3, 2018
Coaches often say that the biggest improvement a team makes each season is between game one and game two.
Never has that been truer than with the 2018 E.D. White football team.
The Cardinals got rinsed on Week 1 at Central Lafourche — a 50-21 loss that likely wasn’t even that close because of some late-game scores.
But since that time, E.D. White has taken themselves back to the practice field and have gotten drastically better, currently having won three of their past four games heading into a matchup with Vermilion Catholic on Friday night.
The Cardinals’ only loss in the past few weeks was a thriller — a four-overtime game against Assumption.
The team has also beaten Erath, St. James and Morgan City in its recent hot stretch.
“We knew after the first game that we had a lot of work to do to keep progressing as a team,” E.D. White coach Chris Bergeron said in a recent radio interview. “But give our kids credit. They never hung their heads. They showed up to play every day and knew what they had to do. We have some new guys in some new positions and we worked to continue to get better. That hard work has really started to pay off.”
The first game was a lot to come back from.
The Trojans led that game 36-0 at one time and they had their way, rushing for more than 400 yards in the game.
But E.D. White never panicked, even after the lopsided loss.
Bergeron told reporters after the game that he was disappointed in the result, but not in the team’s effort.
He said the team would work to get better in the coming week.
That, they did.
In Week 2, E.D. White got a two-score road win over Erath — a drastic turnaround for the team after the loss at Central Lafourche.
But the biggest fruits of the Cardinals’ labors were showcased in Week 3 against St. James.
Against one of the most athletic, explosive offenses in the state, E.D. White played near-flawlessly, pushing the game into overtime, then winning it, scoring a 28-27 upset victory.
In that win, E.D. White protected its youthful defense with the best strategy possible — a ball-control offense.
E.D. White controlled the pace of the game against St. James, utilizing all-everything quarterback Brandon Legendre, powerful halfback Michael Clement and its bruising offensive line to stay ahead of the chains and milk the clock to keep St. James out of the end zone.
With a fresh defense, E.D. White got the stops that they needed late in the game, which enabled the Cardinals to secure the close, hard-fought win.
“It was just a great game,” Bergeron said. “We played at our pace and controlled the clock and kept our defense off the field. But give those kids credit. When we needed to make plays on that side of the ball, we did. And it was just a great team win. It was a great sign of the progress that we’ve continued to make.”
They then showcased that progress again — even if in a losing effort.
E.D. White’s game with Assumption in Week 4 will likely go down as the game of the season. The Mustangs won 18-12 in four overtimes, but both teams delivered body blows to one another throughout the game in a thriller.
In a couple of the overtimes, neither team scored at all, something which almost never happens in the high school game because the ball starts at the 10-yard-line.
Some of it was due to sloppy field conditions in Napoleonville. But undoubtedly, both teams played lights-out defense, which was a huge factor in the low-scoring game.
And on Friday, the Cardinals got back in the winner’s circle in a 41-0 victory over Morgan City — the first victory of the season for E.D. White in league play.
To go from allowing 50 points to a shutout — all in a handful of weeks is a feat one doesn’t often see.
But Bergeron said he believes in his players, adding that he never doubted that they’d peak at the right time.
“We always knew we’d get better as the year went on,” he said. “Now, we have to just keep going forward and keep making those steps.”
The Cardinals host Vermilion Catholic on Friday. They’re a Class 1A school, but they’re no cupcake, owning an unblemished 5-0 record in so far this season.
Looking at common opponents, Vermilion Catholic beat Erath 34-11 — a 23-point margin. E.D. White beat the same team by 11.
But that was early-season E.D. White. The Cardinals are better now — by a lot.
After Vermilion Catholic, E.D. White will finish the season with four-straight district games — against South Terrebonne, South Lafourche, Ellender, then the rival matchup with Vandebilt.
WEEK 5 SCOREBOARD
Vandebilt 27, South Lafourche 0
Destrehan 49, Thibodaux 10
Central Lafourche 45, Ellender 29
E.D. White 41, Morgan City 0
Assumption 21, South Terrebonne 7
H.L. Bourgeois 7, East St. John 6
Terrebonne 41, Hahnville 0
Ascension Catholic 46, CCA 6
East Iberville 27, Houma Christian 0
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