Pios wear down LaGrange

LAKE CHARLES – While it may be true that the reward is sweeter when you have to work for it, whoever said that probably didn’t have a high school football game in mind at the time. LaGrange is favored to win District 4-4A this season and Notre Dame got a big taste of why in Lake Charles Friday.
The Pios had to come from behind in the third quarter of an up and down performance that ended on the up side with A 24-14 win over the Gators. Notre Dame had to work for every bit of the win and that was just fine for Head coach Lewis Cook.
“They really came on strong at the end of last year and I knew it was going to be a fight because they had a lot of good players back from that team. We knew we would have some growing pains with a lot of guys being depended on to play at length for the first time. It’s a good start and it’s always nice to win.
The Pios took a first quarter lead on a 21 yard field goal from Dustin Reiners. Gabe Gardiner caught a 39-yard pass from Brad Stoma to spark the 68 yard drive. Stoma found Joe Faulk for 23 yards to the nine, but the drive stalled at the LaGrange three yard line.
The Pios defense set up a second quarter score when Jake Reiners forced a fumble and Logan LaGrange recovered at the Gators 30. Joe Faulk took it up the middle from eight yards out and Reiners added the extra point for a 10-0 lead with 4:14 left in the half.
The Gators answered on the next possession calling on halfback Markell Hawthorne for four straight carries and 25 yards. On third and three at the Gators 44, quarterback Jerimiah West faked another handoff and threw down the middle for Jaylun Myles who had streaked past the secondary for a 56 yard touchdown to cut the Pios lead at halftime to 10-6.
“Giving up the touchdown right before the half is something you always want to try and avoid,” noted Pios coach Cook. “They formationed us and we tried to adjust and boom, they hit us for a big play.”
In a near replay of last season, LaGrange took the first possession of the second half 80 yards in eight plays. The Gators pounded the Notre Dame defense with six runs and again did their damage through the airways.
Gators QB West went down the middle for a 35 yard completion to Lewis at the Pios four and on the same route as the earlier touchdown. Hawthorne ran it in from there for the TD and ran in a 2 point conversion to give LaGrange a 14-10 lead.
Playing from behind is not a situation the Pios have had to face very often in recent years and it didn’t take long for that situation to be corrected. Facing a third and six at the Pios 33 and after a LaGrange timeout, the Pios claimed the night on one big play, a 51 yard pass from QB Stoma to receiver Boedy Borill down the LaGrange sideline to the Gators 16 yard line.
“That was all Brad on that play,” explained Cook. “We were going to change the route at the time out and just ended up changing the formation a bit. On that route, we might throw that pass once out of every twenty times we call it. Brad saw them chasing the two underneath guys, made a good throw and Boedy made a really nice catch. That probably turned the game around because they had just scored to take the lead and had the momentum going their way.”
Three plays later, Lance Bertrand powered in from seven yards. Reiners added the PAT and Notre Dame led, 17-14.
Bertrand finished the game with 82 rushing yards on 17 carries to lead the Pios. After a tough start, the ground game doubled its first half output and totaled 232 yards.
“They were just getting off of the blocks and causing us some problems,” added Cook. “They were big inside, they played the linebackers tight, locked up on the outside and they challenged the running game. We had some opportunities in the first half and just didn’t capitalize on them. In the second half we made the most of what we got from them.”
The Pios defense forced a quick three and out behind run stuffs from Nate Link, Matt Hanks and Conner Kirsch. Link led the Pios with eight tackles and a sack. Kirsch posted six stops with a sack and Hanks had 5 tackles.
Notre Dame marched 56 yards on nine plays behind the running of Lance Bertrand and Joe Faulk. Bertrand attacked the edge for 25 yards and Faulk powered the middle for 10 yards. Brad Stoma followed his offensive line for a one yard TD to start the fourth quarter. Reiners kicked the point after to put ND ahead 24-14.
“They were playing a few guys both ways, had several kids go down with cramps and as the second half went on, they slowed down,” explained Cook. “We try to sell our kids on the fourth quarter and it was obvious our conditioning was a difference in the game.”
LaGrange moved from its twenty to the Pios 33. Consecutive sacks of Gators QB West forced a punt to the Pios 12 with 7:59 to play. Notre Dame pounded LaGrange on thirteen straight running plays, converted for five first downs and ran out the clock for the win.
“I was most proud of we got behind and continued to fight,” Cook said with a smile. “We make a big throw and catch on a huge third down play, take the lead back, put another one in for a score and then run off the last seven minutes of the game without them getting the ball back.”
For head coach Lewis Cook, it was career win #299. His Pios team will have a tough task in helping reach #300 on a short week with Breaux Bridge scheduled for a Thursday night game.
“They will have athletes all over the field like what we faced at Lagrange,” concluded Cook. “It only helps you get better and we are trying to prepare for down the line so there is no better way than to go on the road and for these guys to find a way to win the game.”