Iota hopes to build on positives from jamboree

CHURCH POINT - There is work to be done in Iota, hard not to in a 40-6 jamboree loss to Crowley.
“We’ve got a lot of stuff we have to go back and correct,” said Iota coach, Neal Lege. “Mental mistakes all night long – offensively, defensively … We looked like the deer in headlights out there tonight.
“We’re a better team than what we showed tonight.”
After putting up an early 71 yard touchdown, the Bulldogs’ offense went cold until late in the second half.
The Bulldogs’ defense allowed 344 yards in 30 minutes of play.
Then there were special teams with the squib kicks not going to plan.
Still in the mix of those weeds, there are some things Iota can look at with glee from Thursday night.
On offense, Adam Ardoin’s 71 yard run came early and it was a chance for Iota to show that it can and will catch a defense sleeping this season.
Part of that, of course, comes from Iota committing itself to passing the ball as well, opening up the run game for the Bulldogs.
Then there, is the youthful side of Iota, the freshmen, who seemed eager to prove they are ready for Friday night lights in somewhat limited playing time against the Gents.
As the back-up quarterback, Tristan Miller would not come in until Iota’s final series. Despite the limited time and deep real estate, Miller helped orchestrate those final few plays to close the game that netted Iota 39 yards. Ten of those yards came on the feet of freshman running back Alex Frey on his lone carry. Miller finished his night going 1-2 and throwing for 8 yards. The completed pass was to another freshman, Emmett Bobbett.
It isn’t just the freshmen looking to make a statement, however. Sophomore Bliss Deshazo made an imprint late in Thursday’s contest with a sly 9-yard grab from starting quarterback Tim Lunson (3-11, 13 yards in the air, six carries for 1 yard on the ground).
“We challenged our O-line and our defense at halftime,” said Lege; “and we’re giving a bunch of older guys the opportunity to play right now and if they can’t get the job done, we’ll go with the youth movement, play by committee.
“We’ll go back to work Monday and see what we got.”
The Bulldogs finished with 153 yards on the night.
On defense, Iota was not pleased by much, but redzone play had several bright spots.
After fumbling the ball at its own 24 yard line early in the first half, Iota would stand tall and force Crowley to settle for only 1 yard on four plays. Late in the first half, Iota would force Crowley to stand tall and take all four plays to drive four yards. It was on 4th-and-1, with 2:21 left that Ty’Von Griffin would score his second touchdown of the night.
“They came back out of the timeout on the same exact play and we didn’t give the effort we did the first time,” said Lege. “Those are the kind of things we have to correct.”
Then on special teams, while Iota’s squib kicks didn’t go to plan, a couple of times, its PAT coverage team did.
“We really didn’t want to kick it deep with the speed they (Crowley) have back there and with the inexperience on coverage we have,” said Lege. “Anytime we’re going to face someone with a lot of speed, we’re going to kick it down somewhere.”
The Bulldogs did block two kicks against Crowley’s Andrew Simon. Simon is a bit of an X-factor for the Gents this year as a returning kicker who handles place kicks, extra points and punting duties.