It’s a new season and a brand new stadium for the Cecilia Bulldogs who open their 2019 campaign by hosting parish rival St. Martinville on Friday night to kick off the year in fine fashion.
Breaux Bridge makes a short drive to New Iberia to open its season against the Class 5A Yellow Jackets.
Cecilia recovered from a disastrous start in their 20-14 jamboree win over Lafayette High.
The Lions scored two quick TDs to lead 14-0 less than a minute into the game but the Bulldogs didn’t panic and fought back to secure the victory.
Senior Tyler Abshire and sophomore Alex Soileau split playing time at quarterback and performed well while seniors Danarious Journet and Dillard Calais combined for 123 rushing yards and each scored a TD.
The Bulldogs are hoping to give fans a victory Friday in the first game to be played in the school’s new stadium.
St. Martinville went up against the state’s top ranked Class 4A school in St. Thomas More and the Cougars used a bit of trickery as well as a solid offense in cruising to a 19-0 shutout win.
“They’re a well oiled machine,” observed SM coach Vincent DeRouen. “But I wasn’t completely satisfied with our effort.”
Asked about STM’s use of an onside kick early in the game, DeRouen said “People know we’ve had trouble handling the onside kick, so we may see it again during this season.”
Offensively, DeRouen felt the Tigers did some good things, but a fumbled snap and a crucial penalty kept them out of the end zone.
“Overall,” the coach observed, “we did some good things and our conditioning held up. But we’ve still got a lot of things to work on.”
Looking to Cecilia, DeRouen knows the Bulldogs will be up for their first game in the new stadium. “We’re excited to be a part of that new tradition.”
Breaux Bridge managed only 55 yards total offense in its 20-0 loss to Carencro, getting off only four rushing plays.
“They were able to really control the ball,” coach Chad Pourciau admitted. “We just didn’t have many opportunities on offense.”
The Tiger coach was pleased, however, with his special team play. “We did well in that phase, with Gavan Courville averaging better than 40 yards on a couple of punts.”
On the down side, the Tigers will be without the services of offensive tackle Raymond Love for a while. The sophomore starter went down with a leg injury during BB’s first offensive series.
Pourciau’s squad will face his old alma mater Friday in New Iberia. The Yellow Jackets suffered a 13-0 shutout loss to cross town rival Westgate in their jamboree game last week.
