After three week delay, Ellender opens season with HLB loss

After three weeks of cancelled games and life uncertainties due to hurricanes Gustav and Ike, the Ellender Patriots football team took the field for their first game of the season Friday.

Getting to that moment was a Herculean effort in itself.

Gustav’s 120 mph winds tore the roof off Ellender’s gymnasium. Three inches of standing floodwater and subsequent mold left the Patriots’ locker room and coaches’ office unusable.

A week later, Ike’s storm surge flooded several players’ homes, adding more stress to their young lives.

Despite all that, only one student whose home was heavily damaged, did not returned to join his teammates at Friday’s game against the H.L. Bourgeois Braves.

“The only thing I think this did to us was make us stronger and build team unity,” said Patriots head coach Tawaskie Anderson. “We lost three weeks, but that’s in the past.”

When Anderson first saw the damages to the school, he was devastated. The new lockers installed in July were ruined. All the helmets and practice jerseys were covered with mildew.

The boys’ physical education office is serving as a temporary locker room. An LCD projector in the cafeteria serves as a film room to study opponent’s game video.

“It’s like I tell the kids all the time, be prepared for change,” Anderson said.

Freshman Janson Lowery, 14, likely wasn’t ready for the kind of change he and his family has had to endure.

Hurricane Gustav flipped his family’s Dulac trailer and ripped the roof off. Then Ike inundated their home with several feet of water.

Since then, Janson, his mother Donna and stepfather Albert have been staying in Dumas Auditorium, which has been converted into a Red Cross shelter.

“It’s kind of hard being the only teen in there,” Janson said. “Everybody else there is way younger or older than me.”

Even when he evacuated to Alabama, playing football this season was on Janson’s mind.

“During the hurricane, I was practicing,” he said. “When I was in Alabama, I met some friends who lived in New Orleans and we played football every day. I practiced my hand-off drills and footwork drills.”

Senior Chris Boudreaux, a left tackle and defensive end, was one of the fortunate ones. His home suffered minor roof and shingle damage during Gustav and no flooding in Ike.

“Water came down the road, but thank God for that drainage ditch we have by the house,” he said. “That stopped water from getting to our house.”

Boudreaux admitted seeing the conditions at Ellender the first time was difficult to accept. However, not playing three games, particularly, the first two against Terrebonne and South Terrebonne, their rivals, was more difficult to take.

“It was really hard on some of us, especially us seniors,” he said. “We felt we could have beaten South Terrebonne. We’re tired of banging each other. We’re just ready to play somebody else.”

The Patriots got the chance Friday at Tom B. Smith Stadium. Only the Braves seemed to do a little more banging in their 43-13 homecoming victory.

Ellender looked like a team that had not played at game speed since the parish Jamboree Aug. 28.

The Patriots committed 10 penalties for 80 yards and two turnovers. Despite the cooler weather, a few Patriots players suffered cramps during the contest.

“Conditioning was a concern of mine coming into the game,” Anderson said. “I thought they were getting better as the week went on. They have to learn to get fluids in their bodies to prevent cramping.”

It often took more than one Patriots defender to bring down any of Bourgeois’ stable of senior running backs – Jereme Lagarde (22 carries, 182 yards, one touchdown), Caleb Williams (nine carries, 122 yards two touchdowns) and Sean Harvey (10 carries, 93 yards, one touchdown).

“Those three guys are probably the strongest guys we have on the team,” said first-year Braves coach Joe Riley. “We returned two 1,000-yard rushers (Lagarde and Williams) and Sean Harvey worked his butt off this summer to get stronger and faster.”

The Braves (1-1) defense set the tone from the first drive. Lagarde, also a linebacker, intercepted Patriots quarterback Josh Billiot and returned the pass 71 yards for a touchdown and 7-0 lead.

On the Braves’ first offensive drive, Williams scored on a 46-yard touchdown run to put them up 14-0 in the first quarter.

After recovering a Lagarde fumble at the Patriots’ 1-yard line in the second quarter, Ellender running back Glenn Fitch (28 carries, 82 yards) was tackled for a safety, lengthening the Braves’ lead to 16-0.

“The defense came to play tonight,” Reilly said. “Coach (Cory) Adkins and the rest of the defensive coaches did a great job preparing.”

Ellender (0-1) finally got on the scoreboard toward the end of the second quarter. After Patriots defensive end Rakesh Naquin recovered a fumble and returned to the Braves’ 5-yard line, Fitch ran for a touchdown on the next play, cutting the deficit to 16-7.

“The turnovers that the defense got was a bright spot for us,” Anderson said. “We got four fumbles. They gave us opportunities to score; we just didn’t take advantage of them. We didn’t execute our offense, and we didn’t tackle well.”

Harvey scored on a nine-yard touchdown run to give the Braves a 22-7 lead going into halftime. Bourgeois tried a two-point conversion that failed.

By the early fourth quarter, the Braves were ahead 36-7. Lagarde scored on a 12-yard touchdown near the end of the third quarter, and senior quarterback Clark Bergeron threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Harvey to start the fourth quarter.

Ellender’s final score came on a three-yard touchdown run by Billiot. A failed two-point attempt kept the score 36-13.

Bourgeois’ last touchdown came on Williams’ 12-yard touchdown dash with over four minutes left in the game.

Reilly got a celebratory Gatorade shower from his players for his first coaching victory. Afterward, he had high praise for Anderson, his Nicholls State football teammate from 1999-00, and his team.

“Coach Anderson did a great job preparing those kids for this game,” he said. “For all they’ve been through, my hat goes off to Tawaskie for even having enough kids to be out here to play with the conditions they had to go through.”

“The guys gave great effort. We played well in spurts, but we didn’t play four quarters of football,” Anderson said. “But it was good to get back to the game of football.”

As the Patriots prepare for Friday’s non-district game at Bogalusa, Anderson is more confident his team has overcome any mental hangovers they might have.

“That was about that my biggest worry coming into the game, but they were ready to play,” he said. “Some people may question whether they should be playing games right now. I believe school and practice and the games are where the kids need to be to get away from all the hurricane talk.”

It often took more than one Patriots defender to tackle Braves running back Sean Harvey (7). * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF