Unable to finish

VILLE PLATTE – Despite reaching the red zone twice, the Sacred Heart Trojans were unable to come away with any points in their 13-0 loss to long time rival and district foe St. Ed’s Friday night.
With the loss, Sacred Heart fell to 4-4 on the season and 1-2 in district play. The Trojans will travel to Opelousas Catholic this Friday night for a showdown with the Vikings.
“I thought we moved the ball well, we just had some self inflicted wounds that got us behind the chains and stopped us from being able to punch it in when we had the chance,” stated Sacred Heart head coach Josh Harper. “Getting into the red zone and not finishing has plagued us all year long. But, you have to tip your hat to their defense. They made the stops when they needed to. We just need to re-group and get ready for next week.”
St. Ed’s took possession of the ball to start the game after Sacred Heart won the toss and deferred to the second half. The Blue Jays began their first drive of the night at their 42-yard line and wasted little time getting on the board.
Utilizing the running combination of Payton Marcantel and Kieran Davis, St. Ed’s reached the Sacred Heart three-yard line in six plays. Facing a fourth and goal situation, Marcantel faked a run around the end and tossed it into the waiting arms of wing back Hunter Brown for the first touchdown of the night.
The extra point was good off of the foot of Josh Landry, and, with 8:37 to go in the first quarter, the Blue Jays owned a 7-0 lead.
The two teams exchanged possessions a couple of times in the first quarter, as neither offense could get things going. The biggest difference in the early parts of the game was that St. Ed’s continued to win the field position battle.
As the first quarter turned into the second quarter, the Blue Jays were able to force a Sacred Heart punt from their five-yard line. With the ball resting at the Trojan 39-yard line following the kick, St. Ed’s went back to work on the ground.
On the third play of the drive, Marcantel blasted his way past several Sacred Heart defenders on his way to a 31-yard touchdown run. A mishandled snap on the extra point caused the point after to fail, giving the Blue Jays a 13-0 lead with 9:31 to go in the second quarter.
On the ensuing drive, Sacred Heart finally got some offense going. Beginning on their 38-yard line, the Trojans moved the ball down the field, reaching the St. Ed’s 18-yard line in eight plays.
Facing a fourth and seven, Sacred Heart’s Gabe Fontenot tried to fit a pass into the Blue Jay secondary. Unfortunately for the Trojans, the pass was picked off by Henry Brown and brought to the St. Ed’s 34-yard line.
The Blue Jays then mounted one last drive before the half. Continuing with the two back system, St. Ed’s moved the ball down to the Sacred Heart four-yard line with seconds to go on the clock.
On second and goal, the Trojan defense rose to the occasion and stuffed Marcantel for no gain as time ran down on the first half clock.
“We went into the locker room and told the players that we have to stop killing ourselves,” said Harper. “I thought we did a good job of moving the ball in the first half. We just needed to be able to extend drives and keep them going. We came out in the second half and got some momentum on offense, but just could not finish.”
“On the flip side, I thought our defense played a good game,” Harper continued. “We got the stop on the goal line right before half and, except for the break down on the first touchdown and the long run, I feel that our defense played a tough game.”
The second half started with Sacred Heart mounting a long drive. Taking over at their 43-yard line, the Trojans methodically drove the ball down the field.
Behind the running of Alex McElwee, Sacred Heart found themselves at the St. Ed’s 10-yard line in 11 plays. On first and goal an Ethan Karonika pass fell to the ground incomplete.
McElwee then took the ball on the hand off on the next two plays, gaining a total of five yards. On fourth and goal from the five, McElwee tried to get the ball around the right side of the Blue Jay defense, but St. Ed’s was there to stop his momentum after a three yard gain and took over on downs.
The Blue Jays moved the ball to their nine-yard line on their first possession of the second half, but was forced to punt when the Sacred Heart defense stopped their drive.
Following the kick, the Trojans once again had excellent field position, as the ball rested on the St. Ed’s 35-yard line. However, the Trojans were unable to reach the first down marker and turned the ball over on downs for the second drive in a row.
With the clock working in their favor and the fourth quarter already started, the Blue Jays needed to burn some clock and keep possession of the ball. St. Ed’s did just that, going on a 20 play drive that consumed 9:49 seconds.
With that drive, Sacred Heart had only one more chance to get a quick score and hope for an on-side kick. Forced to throw the ball on the wet surface, the Trojans could not get the ball past their 35-yard line, giving the ball up to the Blue Jays with 1:08 left to go in the game. From there St. Ed’s killed the remaining time to seal the win.
McElwee led all Trojan rushers on the night with 61 yards on 13 carries. Fontenot added 18 yards on six rushing attempts.
St. Ed’s outgained Sacred Heart 237-97 on the ground and dominated time of possession 28:38 to 19:22.