Trojans rebound with big win

Telling time where to go, what to do
October 6, 2015
Judge rules against HTV in defamation case
October 8, 2015
Telling time where to go, what to do
October 6, 2015
Judge rules against HTV in defamation case
October 8, 2015

Even in their best football season in years, the Central Lafourche football team still couldn’t figure out how to beat rival South Lafourche.

But they sure did rebound in a big way on Friday night.

The Trojans answered their loss to the Tarpons on Friday, trumping previously unbeaten H.L. Bourgeois 14-7 in a close, hard-fought game.


Central Lafourche’s defense pitched a shutout in the win, allowing just an interception return for a touchdown against a powerful Braves offense that’s easily scored points throughout the season.

“We were great on that side of the ball,” Trojans coach Keith Menard said. “We didn’t let them score anything. That’s not easy to do. They have playmakers and guys who can give you problems, but we followed our assignments, tackled well and played a great game.”

That’s the continuation of a trend for Central Lafourche. Throughout the season, the Trojans defense has been among the stingiest in the Houma-Thibodaux area – a unit that doesn’t often yield points to opponents.


The leader of the Central Lafourche defensive success, of course, is All-Everything defensive back Anfernee Poindexter – a Nicholls commit who Menard locks onto the opponent’s best player in each game.

But the coach said the team’s defensive success runs deeper than just the athleticism and dominance of any particular player. Menard added that it’s a total team effort that makes everything tick.

“It’s something about that group,” Menard said. “They just have good chemistry and a good mix. We obviously have some good football players lined up out there, but we’re 11-strong. It’s a true team unity when they’re on the field.”


Poindexter agrees. He’s said multiple times throughout the season that he thinks the Trojans have a defense that’s capable of stopping any offense in Louisiana on any given night.

The Trojans scheme utilizes a lot of blitzes that are intended to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks and bottle opponent’s rushing game.

“We have a lot of talent,” Poindexter said. “When we’re playing well, we really all just feed off each other. We have a lot of people back with experience, so that helps us a lot on that side of the ball.”


Offensively, the Trojans are piecing things together and getting better as the season goes on.

For the second-straight season, quarterback Austin Aucoin is under center for the Trojans. Aucoin isn’t a dual threat quarterback, but he is a gifted pocket passer who possesses a powerful, accurate left arm. Against the Tarpons, Aucoin threw for more than 300 yards – the best game of his career. In other games this season, Aucoin tormented opposing defensive backfields and completed several touchdown strikes.

But the drawback about the quarterback is that he’s relatively inexperienced. Yes, Aucoin started the 2014 season for the Trojans and had a nice year. But it was his first-ever season getting significant reps at the position because of an injury he sustained in 2013. At times, that inexperience rears its ugly head. Against the Tarpons, Aucoin had several overthrows and took a last-second sack that ultimately caused the team to run out of time.


Against H.L. Bourgeois, it was Aucoin’s pick-six that yielded the only Braves points of the game. But Menard said the senior quarterback is getting better each week, and is rounding into form.

“He’s steady,” Menard said. “He’s a good leader. Austin is a kid that we rely upon and put a lot of responsibility onto during the game to make things happen for us. … He rebounded well after the interception. We told him to shake it off. It happens. It happens to every quarterback who has ever played the game.”

When not throwing the football down the field, the Trojans also possess a powerful running game, led by halfback Nelton Allen and even Poindexter, who sees some touches on that side of the ball from time-to-time.


“We like to be balanced,” Menard said. “We need it to be balanced. We have to be able to run and pass.”

The other thing the Trojans need is one more win. Doing so would get a monkey off the team’s backs. In the past two seasons, the Trojans have finished 4-6 – a record that likely put the team one win away from the postseason.

In both those seasons, the Trojans started hot and then fizzled late to sink below .500.


That same script has happened so far, with Central Lafourche winning four of its first five games in the first half of the season.

Now the challenge is for the team to break the ice and keep pushing. Menard said he doesn’t talk to his team about getting past the four-win barrier, because it’s something that’s “already understood in the teams’ locker room.”

The coach added that he thinks this year’s team has the right mix of experience and talent to make it happen.


“We don’t worry about things like that,” Menard said. “We just approach every week wanting to go 1-0 in that week. If we win just one ball game a week enough times, I think we’ll find that a lot of our goals will take care of themselves.”

Central Lafourche footballFILE