Bobcats surpass Wolves in final quarter for win

EUNICE - In an even contest between the Rayne High Wolves and the Eunice Bobcats through three quarters of play, Eunice used the final 12 minutes to score two touchdowns and pull out a 19-7 win over Rayne.
“Our defense stayed on the field a lot tonight -- we had a long field all night,” stated Rayne High Head Coach Curt Ware of his team’s effort Friday night. “Something was just not there, and not just tonight, but all week.”
Ware noted his team has been showing improvement every week, despite their 1-4 season record thus far, which included three very close ballgames. But this week he saw a change.
“We have had some close games so far,” Ware continued, “But, our guys were in the ballgame, had that intensity and tried to improve all week long. I just didn’t see that this week. We kinda hit a wall this week. We just have to get back at it and work hard to show some improvement again.”
One area of improvement the Wolves sustained Friday were four halts of long Euncie drives -- one of the reasons the Wolf defense remained on the playing field for long durations.
“The first half of play, our guys were there on every play,” Ware noted. “But the second half saw a completely different game. We held them at times, but we didn’t move the ball and the consistency was just not there.”
One consistent portion of the ballgame was Eunice’s passing game, short and steady, which gave the Rayne defense trouble at times. Bobcat quarterback Alex Richard recorded 13 completions for 142 passing yards and two touchdowns.
The Bobcats were the first to light up the scoreboard midway through the first quarter on a Richard pass to Travis Godfrey.
But Rayne answered with a 12-yard touchdown run by Deontrey Wilridge. The extra point by Ben Alverez knotted the score at seven with the extra point -- where it remained until the last quarter.
On a reverse pass for a touchdown at the start of the last quarter that, Ware saw the differece.
“When they (Eunice) threw that reverse for a score and put them ahead, it looked like our guys deflated,” Ware stated, “That was the turning point of the ballgame. But, that all goes back to our week of practice.”
Th extra point as blocked by Rayne defender Cameron Gibson and Euncie now held a 12-7 lead.
Two drives later, as Euncie held the Wolves in the red zone, the Bobcats pushed their lead to the 19-7 finale on a 59-yard touchdown run by Nicholas Powell and a two-point conversion.
The Eunice offense collected 371 total yards (205 passing, 166 rushing), compared to Rayne’s 131, all of which were on the ground.
Leading Rayne rushing were Deontrey Wilridge (21 carries for 67 yards), Jaylon Reed (5-26), Darien Harmon (8-24) and Trent Winbush (2-14).
“I’m sure the stats tell the story,” concluded Ware. “Our defense played a long game, while our offense could not get things going. This was not our best performance, by far. We will be working to get that evened out.”
The Rayne offense was limited to nine first downs and only six third down conversions.
But, the Rayne defense held Eunice to only seven conversions and 18 first downs, including a fumble, interception and blocked kick.
Leading the Rayne defense were Devonte Robinson and Nicky Faucheaux, each with 5 tackles and 3 solos. Donald Doucet and Austin Coleman collected 4.5 tackles, and Cameron Gibson recorded 4 tackles and a blocked kick.
DJ Stelly, Tony Gabriel and Darien Harmon had 3.5 tackles, and Trent Winbush and Brant Broussard recorded 3 tackles each, with Winbush collecting an interception.
The Wolves will return home on Friday when they will host LaGrange during their first district contest of the season. Kick-off is slated for 7 p.m. at Wolf Stadium.