October 14
October 14, 2008October 16
October 16, 2008
On paper, the District 8-4A game Friday night between Archbishop Shaw’s Eagles and the Morgan City Tigers should have made for an intriguing contest.
The Tigers, a Wing-T, ball-control, running team, were looking for their first win against a district opponent under fourth-year head coach Mark Millet.
The team averaged over 300 yards rushing during its three-game winning streak.
“Physically, we matched up well against those teams (Riverdale, Jackson and St. Martin’s),” Millet said. “It’s a little different when you get into district play.”
The Eagles, a balanced, big-play, pro-style offensive team, had been state runners-up in Class 4A in 2006 and 2007. Yet they were winless this season, snapping a 33-game regular season winning streak.
“We graduated a lot of players from last year’s team, and we play a tough schedule,” said Shaw head coach Scott Bairnsfather. “We don’t have any returning starters on the offense, so it’s taking a little while to get going.”
Something had to give.
It was the Tigers (3-2, 0-1) who collapsed as Shaw (1-4, 1-0) scored touchdowns on five of its first six possessions on the way to a 48-13 victory.
“This was the first game all year that we didn’t lose the turnover battle,” Bairnsfather said. “We got some big plays right from the start and it snowballed from there.”
The Eagles’ defense set the tone early by intercepting Tiger quarterback Chase Garrett on the game’s first play.
Four plays later, Eagle senior Gilbert Anderson (15 carries, 102 yards) ran for a 16-yard touchdown to give Shaw a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
Shaw quarterback Kyle Keating threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to tailback Lawrence Breaud on the next Eagles’ possession to go up 14-0 with 5:41 left in the first quarter.
On the next Tiger offensive play, Garrett threw his second interception. This time it was picked off by Shaw’s Darris Bailey who returned it 36 yards for a touchdown and a 21-0 lead.
“Our offense put us behind early on with the mistakes,” Millet said. “We don’t usually throw the ball as much as we did tonight, and I won’t do it again either.”
Morgan City’s all-purpose star Clint Navarro gave the Tigers a spark by returning the ensuing kickoff 55 yards to the Eagles’ 30-yard line. However, the Tigers only gained 2 yards in four plays, turning the ball over on downs.
Shaw scored twice in the second quarter to go into halftime leading 35-0.
The first came on a five-yard touchdown run by Breaud with 6:29 left. Then senior Holden Lombard took a pitch up the middle 54 yards for a touchdown with 4:20 left in the half.
“We blocked really well tonight and that allowed our running backs to find their lanes,” Bairnsfather said. “Considering we have a freshman and two sophomores on the offensive line, that was big for us.”
“We played a soft man-to-man coverage, which took two defenders away from the line of scrimmage,” Millet said. “We made some stops on the inside, but once they ran outside on that stretch play, we didn’t have those corners there to contain them.”
After Breaud scored a touchdown on a 3-yard run to put Shaw up 41-0 in the third quarter, the Tigers finally got a semblance of their running game going.
Sophomore Troy Smith (eight carries, 55 yards) found the endzone twice in the fourth quarter. Smith ran around the left end for 17 and 30-yard runs to cut Morgan City’s deficit to 41-13 with 5:10 left in the game.
Shaw ended the scoring on its next offensive play as Holden sprinted 69 yards for a touchdown.
“Their defense plastered our (butts) for three quarters,” Millet said. “They were bigger, they were faster and they did a good job stacking us up in the middle.”
The Tigers are now 0-19 in district games under Millet. He gets a chance to end that streak tomorrow night when his team travels to Bourg to face the 0-3 Ellender Patriots at South Terrebonne Memorial Stadium.
“Coach (Tawaskie) Anderson always has his club well prepared, so I’m expecting a real battle,” Millet said. “They pounded us last year. We need to regroup, forget about this loss, and start focusing on Ellender.”
Troy Smith’s (22) two fourth quarter touchdowns were not enough in Morgan City’s 48-13 loss to Shaw. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF
