Rayne's Duhon earns Grid Stars top honors

 CROWLEY – The Rayne Wolves are off to one of their best starts ever and a big reason for that has been the performance of a player his coach refers to as a “war dog.”
“He’s really the heart and soul of our offense for sure,” Rayne coach Curt Ware said of Wolves’ senior running back Trent Duhon.
“Those other guys, they are flashy and fast and all that and they get some attention because they see the big plays. But Trent is the guy that grinds it out. Nobody has been able to stop him; he runs exceptionally hard and he has some speed.”
Behind Duhon, Rayne  is off to a 6-0 start, 2-0 in District 4-4A. They’ve racked up nearly 2,000 yards of total offense in their six victories, just over 1,600 of those yards on the ground.
Duhon, this week’s headliner on Acadia Parish Grid Stars, has rushed for over 100 yards in each game, including last week’s 36-0 victory over Morgan City in which he had a 141-yard, two- touchdown performance.
He now leads Acadia Parish in rushing with 101 carries for 810 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Another big reason for the Wolves’ success has been the play of their defense.
That was never more evident than last Friday against Morgan City. The Wolves limited the Tigers to just 24 total yards of offense and three first downs.
Desmond Cole paced the defensive unit with 5.5 tackles while T.J. Bearb had five. Quarterback Tyler LeJeune, who completed five of nine pass attempts for 133 yards, stepped in at free safety late in the game and picked off a pass which he returned 40 yards for a touchdown.
“Everybody talks about our offense, but the difference between this year’s team and last year’s team is our defense,” said Ware. “This is the best defense we have had, maybe since I have been here. I don’t know the statistics, but our defense hasn’t given up much against the rush all year.”
Notre Dame also turned in a stellar performance last week in their 35-6 victory over West St. Mary.
The Pios piled on the points early and had a 35-0 lead with six minutes remaining in the first half. From there, they put it on cruise control and allowed the reserves to see the field for the second half of the contest.
Defensively, the Pios limited the Wolf Pack to just 139 yards of total offense, all of which was earned against the second- and third-team units.
Connor Kirsch and Hunter Stelly led the charge with seven tackles each while Nate Link logged five tackles, including four sacks.
On the offensive side, 11 Pios had carries on the night. Damon Comeaux paced the offense with 10 carries for 41 yards and John Michael Besse added four carries for 25 yards and a touchdown. He also scored on a 15-yard pass play.
Other impressive performances were turned in by Crowley High’s Chris Lewis and Bryston Domino, Iota’s Adam Ardoin and Tim Lunson and Church Point’s Deion Monroe and Trevor Breaux.
Lewis picked up 100 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries in the Gents’ 28-21 loss to Washington Marion. Domino had the highlight of the first half with a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
Ardoin paced the Bulldogs with 145 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries in a 34-20 loss to league favorite Iowa. Lunson followed with 54 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 11 carries. He also completed one pass for 13 yards in the loss.
Monroe got the Bears going with three early touchdowns in a 34-6 thumping of Pine Prairie. He finished the night with six carries for 50 yards, his longest being a 24-yard burst.
Breaux  added the final two touchdowns and finished the night with six carries for 48 yards.