VILLE PLATTE -- The Sacred Heart Trojans accumulated over 330 yards of offense as they rolled past the Westminster Crusaders 33-14 in a District 4-1A showdown Friday night.
With the win, Sacred Hear improved to 3-1 on the season and 1-1 in league play. The Trojans will travel to Eunice this coming Friday night to take on long time foe St. Ed’s in a district contest.
Sacred Heart wasted no time in getting points on the board. After receiving the opening kick off, the Trojans reached the Westminster 47-yard line in four plays, thanks in part to a 34-yard run by Alex McElwee.
Three plays later, quarterback Ethan Karonika found Spencer Darbonne for a 13-yard touchdown pass. Karonika tacked on the extra point, and, with 9:47 to go in the first quarter, Sacred Heart led 7-0.
The Trojan defense held tight on Westminster’s first possession of the evening, forcing a punt after the Crusaders could muster zero yards of offense.
Sacred Heart took over the football at their 19-yard line following the punt and looked to put together what seemed to be another scoring drive. The Trojans marched the ball all the way down to the Crusader 10-yard line, but were denied the end zone on a holding call that negated a touchdown.
On the very next play, facing a fourth and goal from the Westminster 20-yard line, Karonika was sacked for a 15-yard loss, causing a turn over on downs.
The Crusaders mounted a drive of their own that ate up 35 yards, however, the Trojans held tight and forced Westminster to give up the football at the Sacred Heart 30-yard line.
The Trojans reached the Crusader 33 on their next drive, but fumbled the football away to Westminster at the 45-yard line. The Crusaders took full advantage of the situation, scoring on the first play from scrimmage when Janson Lacour hit Cade Lyons on a 55 yard touchdown pass.
The point after was good, tying the game at 7-7 with 1:40 to go in the second quarter. Neither team could pick up another scored before the end of the half, as the teams headed to the locker room knotted up.
Sacred Heart’s special teams came to life in at the start of the third quarter. After forcing the Crusaders to punt on the opening possession of the third quarter, the Trojans were able to block the Westminster punt and fall on the ball at the Sacred Heart 48-yard line.
With McElwee doing most of the heavy lifting in the run game, the Trojans reached the Crusader 24-yard line in five plays. On the sixth play of the drive, Karonika hit McElwee on a 24-yard touchdown pass to give the Trojans their second lead of the night.
The extra point was good once again off of the foot of Karonika, and Sacred Heart led 14-7 with 5:49 to go in the third quarter.
The Trojan defense did its part in contributing to putting points up on the board when it forced a Westminster fumble on the Crusaders’ next possession. On third and six from the Westminster 48-yard line, the Sacred Heart defense knocked the ball loose when Blake Hebert fell on the pigskin at the Crusader 43-yard line.
Three plays into the drive, Karonika hit Darbonne for a 38 yard strike, putting the ball at the Westminster 14-yard line. Two plays later, Karonika would get his third passing touchdown of the night as he connected with Landon Leblanc for a 19 yard touchdown pass.
Karonika nailed the point after giving the Trojans a 21-7 lead with 11:49 to go in the fourth quarter.
The Sacred Heart defense rose to the occasion once more, creating another fumble on the first Crusader play after the ensuing kickoff. This time it was Darbonne who came up with the ball at the Westminster 34-yard line.
On play four of the next Trojan possession, Gabe Fontenot rambled his way over the goal line from 20 yards out, to extend the Sacred Heart lead. The point after was no good, but the Trojans now had a 27-7 advantage with 10 minutes to go in the game.
Westminster collected themselves enough to score once more. Starting at their 27-yard line, the Crusaders went 73 yards on six plays and capped off the drive with a 60 yard pass from Lacour to Lyons.
The final Sacred Heart touchdown came late in the fourth quarter when Fontenot slashed his way to pay dirt from three yards out.
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Tracey Jagneaux
Sports Editor