Iota drops heartbreaker to Sacred Heart

VILLE PLATTE – At some point, the sting of Friday night’s loss will wear off for the Iota Bulldogs.
It’ll take a while though.
“Too many mental mistakes, mental mistakes that turned into turnovers,” said Iota coach Josh Andrus. “They played a good game, but we gave them every opportunity.”
There was a point when Iota, despite mental lapses, was moving the ball and scoring. There were several points in the game when the Bulldogs were up on the Sacred Heart of Ville Platte Trojans by two possessions – the first quarter and twice in the third quarter.
Then, for all the mental miscues, a shoulder injury to starting quarter Trae Rambin put the already ailing Bulldogs on a short leash and left the door wide open for Sacred Heart to make a comeback. By the time the whistled sounded, the Trojans had done just that, pulling off the 34-26 Week 1 victory over Iota.
“We had guys go down (with injuries) and that’s where the mental mistakes came in,” said Andrus.
There was a laundry list of moments the Bulldogs could turn to as game changers beyond Rambin’s injury as well as several others – notably a depth of only six total linemen being dropped to five in Friday night’s contest.
“Our line came off the ball and blocked really well (tonight),” said Andrus. “We had six linemen who could go tonight and now we’re down to five, and one of them is a freshman.”
But realistically, even without the injuries, Iota’s own mistakes doomed them from early on. In total, the Bulldogs saw several drives in the first half, which Iota led 14-7 at halftime, squandered by turnovers and penalties.
“We got lucky last year with all those turnovers to win it (like we did),” said Andrus. “I told them that that was the only thing that was going to keep us from winning tonight, turnovers. And we had five or six.”
The Bulldogs’ first drive ended in a fumble on its own 34-yard line. Iota’s defense would help the Bulldogs luck out and keep Sacred Heart from capitalizing on the big mistake. Then Iota’s offense would find its footing, driving the ball all the way for a touchdown with 7:15 remaining in the frame.
Most of the work on that drive would be put in by junior and team captain Kaleb Guillory. Guillory would put in 66 yards on one play during the drive before being tackled from behind in a touchdown saving move by the Trojans. Three plays later, Rambin would rumble it in for the 4-yard touchdown.
The Bulldogs defense would make quick work of the Trojans on its next exchange, forcing a three-and-out. Iota would then, again, work its way down the field and see Guillory score his first of three touchdowns of the night from 13 yards out.
Up 14-0, the Bulldogs seemed to be putting the early mistakes behind them, even with numerous holding penalties being called on offense against Iota. The defense, again would force a three-and-out. This time though there would not be a touchdown at the end of Iota’s drive. Instead several penalties stalled a once promising drive for Iota and the Bulldogs were forced to punt the ball away.
With a bit of momentum on its side, the Trojans seemed to be shaken back to life, leading to a drive of Sacred Heart’s own, culminating with a 5-yard touchdown run by Daniel Scully.
Still 14-7 isn’t a bad pickle to be entering halftime.
And, even with adjustments, Iota appeared to be poised and hold on to win, despite more turnovers in the third. In the end, Iota and Sacred Heart would trade scores in the third with Iota getting two out of the three touchdowns in the frame. The first was Guillory’s second one of the night. Guillory would make his way across the goal line from 16 yards out.
Sacred Heart would answer in the immediately following drive when JT Harper would make his way in from the 7-yard line.
It was Iota’s turn to answer once more and the Bulldogs would answer the bell. Guillory’s third touchdown was one from 17 yards out.
The fourth quarter though was all Sacred Heart, leading to the wheels falling off of Iota’s wagon swiftly. Alec Gotro would do the damage first culminating a lengthy drive with a 1-yard touchdown. Then a turnover granted the Trojans a short field. Later in the drive Wesley Launey would connect with Scully for a 20-yard touchdown pass. Finally, the Trojans would see Harper take advantage of another short field. He would score from 15 yards away from goal.
Guilloy’s monster night of 32 carries for 272 yards and three touchdowns aside, fullback Alex Frey would add another three carries for 27 yards as part of Iota’s 306 rushing yards on the night. In the air, though, Iota would not find much success. Rambin would end his night going 5-17 with two interceptions and 34 total yards. Kameron Aucoin in replacement duty would go 0-6 with two interceptions of his own.
Aucoin, however, did show a promising arm in the distance thrown. Andrus is hopeful that with a full week of starter reps, Aucoin will be ready to go next week.
“We’ve got a backup (in Aucoin) that given a week to work, we’re going to be fine with him,” he said. “He can run the ball; he can throw the ball. The other guys (around him) will just have to step up.”