Thibodaux wins battle of local Tigers in thriller

Terriers score key win against Welsh
October 8, 2019
Battle of unbeatens leads Week 6 slate
October 8, 2019
Terriers score key win against Welsh
October 8, 2019
Battle of unbeatens leads Week 6 slate
October 8, 2019

The Cardiac Cats are at it again.

Thibodaux beat Terrebonne 35-28 on Friday night, scoring a game-winning touchdown with 8:13 to go, then holding on with several clutch defensive stops.


Thibodaux is now 5-0 on the season.

Coach Chris Dugas said he’s proud of his team’s ability to persevere and push past adversity.

They’ve now won 4-straight games by single digits.


“I’m so proud of the kids. Just so proud,” Dugas said. “This is exactly the position you want to be in. The kids just keep fighting. They never stop playing. We’ve made some mistakes and we’ve probably not played our best ballgame yet. But we just keep finding a way.”

Both teams had chances to win this one — for the second-straight week, Thibodaux won a thriller and for the second-straight game, Terrebonne lost one at the end.

Thibodaux came out of the gates smoking with two touchdown passes from quarterback Luke Alleman to go up 14-0. One of the scores went to Marquel Price and the other was to Kyren Lacy.


Dugas said he expected a slight hangover for his team after an emotional win against Central Lafourche, but early, that wasn’t the case.

“We came out smoking,” Dugas said. “We were expecting to maybe have a little bit of a lull early, but that didn’t happen at all.”

Dugas said after taking the early lead, he thought Thibodaux’s energy waned a little bit for the rest of the first half.


Terrebonne upped their play after the deficit, tying the game at 14 at the end of the first quarter with two scores of their own — one on a touchdown pass from Ryan Williams to AJ Walters and another from Williams to Jaylin Lucas.

Terrebonne’s surge of momentum continued into the second quarter, as well, when Williams hit Jakhi Douglas on a short touchdown to give Terrebonne a 21-14 lead.

But Thibodaux never waivered.


They scored before halftime to tie the game at 21-all at half on a pass from Alleman to Darwin Davis.

Alleman was special in the win, completing 17-of-36 passes for 232 yards and four scores.

Dugas said the Tigers’ offensive line was also good and the team’s playmakers made plays.


Several players caught key, clutch passes in the win.

“Our guys just kept making plays,” Dugas said. “Terrebonne was being very aggressive defensively, but we just kept standing tall and finding ways to make plays.”

In the second half, Thibodaux re-took the lead when Rimond Thompson scored on a short touchdown run to go up 28-21.


After getting a defensive stop, Thibodaux looked like they were heading to a two-score lead and, perhaps, taking complete control of the game.

But D’jon Scott intercepted an Alleman pass and took it 50 yards to the house to tie the game at 28 — a score which held until the end of the third quarter.

Dugas said if Thibodaux has one flaw, it’s their turnovers. Dugas said the Tigers have not won the turnover battle yet this season.


But, he also added that that’s part of the process of having a pass-heavy offense at the high school level.

“When you’re throwing it 40 times a game, that’s something that’s going to happen a little bit,” Dugas said. “And we know that and we’ve worked on it. We have some explosive plays, but we have some negative plays. I think we’ve done a good job limiting the damage.”

In the fourth quarter, Thibodaux drew the last blood on a long, lengthy drive capped with a touchdown pass from Alleman to Price.


Terrebonne had chances late, but Thibodaux had an answer for each Terrebonne threat, sealing the win.

Thibodaux is now 5-0 on the season and 2-0 in district play. Terrebonne is 2-3 and 0-2.

“We still have half the season to go and a lot of very good opponents on the schedule,” Dugas said. “We’re proud of where we are, but we know we have a lot of work to do.”


TROJANS PUSH PAST ELLENDER

Central Lafourche had a big, fat hangover early against Ellender.

After four-straight weeks playing at home in front of a huge crowd, the Trojans played before a flat, quiet Ellender crowd at South Terrebonne Stadium.


And it affected the team.

Heavily favored, the Trojans actually trailed in both the first and second quarters — their last deficit being 14-12 in the second quarter.

But it didn’t last long.


After getting punched in the mouth, the Trojans rallied, scoring several-straight second-quarter touchdowns to secure a 41-14 halftime lead en route to a 55-27 win.

The Trojans are now 4-1 on the season, but coach Keith Menard said he didn’t like his team’s energy, nor special teams play.

“We were flat,” Menard said. “I didn’t like seeing that. We responded and snapped out of it, which was good to see, but I thought we could have done a better job early in the game. That was disappointing.”


OK, so now to answer the question everyone is wondering about: how many yards did Deon Jenkins get?

Well, not as many as one might think. The Trojans played Jenkins just for the first half on Friday. He got 100 yards and scored on a long touchdown pass, as well.

Menard said Ellender stacked the box to keep Jenkins out of rhythm, so the Trojans threw the ball.


Quarterback Ashtrein Duncan had 255 yards through the air with four scores. Receiver Jansen Folse made several big plays down the field, as well.

“They were putting a lot of defenders at the line, so we put the ball in the air,” Menard said. “We thought early on, our passing game wasn’t clicking, but we got it going and we were very pleased with the big plays we were able to make.”

In the second half, the Trojans played a lot of JV guys. Both teams scored two second-half touchdowns.


CLASS 5A SCOREBOARD

Destrehan 40, H.L. Bourgeois 14

Central Lafourche 55, Ellender 27


Hahnville 21, East St. John 0

Thibodaux 35, Terrebonne 28