Photograph: An Opelousas Catholic ball carrier is stopped after catching a pass. (Photograph by Freddie Herpin.)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
What better way to embrace the start of a district schedule than conclude midseason with a 48-point victory.
That’s the way Opelousas Catholic head football coach Thomas David viewed the aftermath Thursday night following a shutout of Holy Savior Menard at Donald Gardner Stadium.
The Vikings (2-3) are scheduled to travel next Friday night to New Roads where they meet Catholic High-Pointe Coupee for the start of the District 5-1A schedule.
David said the Menard victory additionally served as somewhat of a cleansing agent, following a 14-point Week 4 loss to Southern Lab during a game that featured numerous unforced mistakes and penalties by the Vikings.
“We just got back to work and all week in practice there was a lot of focus by the team on coming out and playing well (against Menard). I thought on both sides of the ball we really saw a complete effort after the team realized that they let one slip away from them (against Southern Lab),” David said.
David said the essence of the Menard win began in practice.
“We talked about the things we were doing wrong that had to be fixed. We thought we needed better effort from everyone and with their execution and they were clear on what they needed to do,” David said.
OCS scored on all seven offensive series and led 36-0 by halftime.
Most of the second half was played without clock stoppage, except for circumstances decided by game officials.
Menard (3-2) used a run-heavy Single-Wing hybrid formation that caused the Vikings to make defensive adjustments almost from the first snap.
“They kind of threw us a curve, but I thought our players recognized what to do and on the fly they adjusted to it well. (Menard) has been a spread team most of the year, and they hadn’t shown that formation. We were aware that they could use it, because one of the assistants there had used it when he was at Bolton,” said David.
OCS also displayed more offensive flexibility.
Quarterback Mark Collins completed all five passes for 71 yards, along with a pair of 13 and 14-yard TD throws to Chris Brown.
Collins also scored three times on short runs, while running backs Markaas Daugherty and Eli Chelette recorded TD’s in the second half.
Brown ran seven times for 65 yards and caught four passes for 59. Brown also attracted the attention of the Menard secondary, which was flagged three times on interference calls as Brown roamed loose.
Overall the Vikings’ running game provided 221 yards accumulated by nine different backs.
Menard, limited to 53 total first half yards, ended the game with 76 rushing and another nine passing.
