Sacred Heart Passes Past OCS
BOBBY ARDOIN
St. Landry Now.com Editor
(Game photos by Mike Curley)
There was sufficient room for passing success inside the Opelousas Catholic secondary and Sacred Heart recognized that belatedly but effectively on Thursday night.
The Trojans traveled on the throwing accuracy of sophomore quarterback William Joubert, who passed for 115 yards during the fourth quarter as Sacred Heart defeated OCS 17-10 in a District 6-1A game played at Donald Gardner Stadium.
OCS erased a 3-0 halftime deficit to score twice during the first eight minutes of the third quarter.
However the Vikings’ 10-3 advantage began to erode as Joubert began successfully spotting his open receivers and the Trojans scored a game-deciding 14 unanswered points.
“(Joubert) is an athlete who never played quarterback. It took awhile, but I think he finally figured things out and stepped up inside the pocket. Our plan all along was to throw, because (OCS) is so strong in the box,” said Sacred Heart head coach Derek Landry.
OCS (1-3) finished the game with 112 net rushing yards, while the Vikings completed 6-of-16 passes for 30.
Vikings’ head coach Kent Masson gave his offense a “C”, for the effort against Sacred Heart, which is undefeated after four games.
“I think each week after evaluating our offense not so much on individual plays, but on the execution and the understanding of our offense, I think we are beginning to understand it better,” said Masson.
Quarterback Kaleb Tezeno, who ran for 127 yards and a touchdown, had several passes dropped by his receivers.
Masson credited senior punter Aiden Lafleur for consistently helping keep the Trojans away from the Vikings end of the field.
Lafleur punted six times for a 43.6-yard average. Three of the punts by Lafleur covered more than 50 net yards.
The Trojans led 3-0 after senior William Chapman drilled a 41-yard field goal with 56 seconds left before halftime, as Sacred Heart ended a possession covering nearly five minutes.
Early in the second half, the Vikings briefly reenergized.
Tezeno used a third quarter, 47-yard run on first down to set up the Vikings first points on a 25-yard Lafleur field goal.
OCS scored a TD on the following offensive series after broke away a 38-yard run as the major play on a 39-yard drive.
It took three snaps from the 1-yard line, but Tezeno ended the possession with a 1-yard run with 2:39 remaining in the third as the Vikings led 10-3.
After that TD Joubert began locating his receivers which were moving in space..
Sacred Heart launched the scoring barrage during a 90-yard, 9-play drive that featured Joubert completing 5-of-6 throws before senior Lane Joubert scored on a 2-yard run with 11:35 left in the game.
The deciding TD came with 3:21 left as Joubert completed a 60-yard scoring throw to wide receiver Aaron LeJeune who was uncovered in the Vikings’ secondary.
“That was a tremendous play that they drew up. You have to give (Sacred Heart) credit. They didn’t stop, so all you can do is take your hat off to them,” Masson added.
Joubert finished completing 17-of-27 passes for 232 yards.
LeJeune caught five passes for 124, while Jax Fontenot had eight catches for 88.
