Gents cruise past Jaguars

TALLULAH – The Madison Jaguars entered Friday’s home contest against the Crowley Gents with high hopes.
A victory would most certainly clinch a playoff berth for the Jaguars as well as give them a .500 record at the end of the 2014 regular season.
Unfortunately, those aspirations were dashed early and often by the visiting Gents, who stepping out of district play for their regular-season final, scored five touchdowns in the first half and rolled to a 44-20 victory over the homestanding Jaguars.
“I think we came out focused and ready to go tonight,” said CHS coach Josh Fontenot, whose team improved to 8-2 on the season heading into next week’s opening round of the Class 4A state playoffs. “We came out here and we did what we needed to do: we handled a long (4 hour) road trip, handled a long day, handled bad field conditions and handled an interesting opponent.”
The interesting part Fontenot referred to was Madison’s defense, which stacked the box and dared the Gents to run at them.
But that’s exactly what the Gents did – they ran.
And ran.
And ran.
All told, the Gents pounded out 234 yards and four touchdowns on the ground in a contest that saw the reserves hit the field for nearly the entire fourth quarter.
“That defense that they (Madison) were running is such a crazy thing,” said Fontenot. “You’ve got to do what we did and just grind out your yards and eventually some of them will bust; so it kind of worked out like we thought it would offensively.”
Ty’Von Griffin once again did most of the ground work, picking up 142 yards and scoring three touchdowns despite being limited to just three quarters of play.
“Griff grinded it out tonight,” said Fontenot. “He knew it was going to be tough because of what they were doing and he knew they were going to hit him. He’s starting to run with some attitude and that’s the thing you like to see.
“I got cute on some things on a few series where we didn’t score. You know, you can turn around and give it to No. 4 (Griffin) and he’s going to go get in there. But this isn’t the game where we just need to pound on him. We needed to get in here, get a win and get out of here.”
The Gents were also effective through the air with Pate Broussard completing seven of 15 pass attempts for 113 yards and two touchdowns. He connected with Jacq’Co Price five times for 98 yards and a touchdown and he hit Mikal Hebert twice for 15 yards and a score.
“It was good to see Pate throw the ball well tonight,” said Fontenot. “He could have thrown for 500 yards if we would have let him. And it was good to see Jacq’Co make some big plays and it was good to get Mikal involved.”
The Gents were just as impressive on defense and special teams.
Their defense limited Madison to just 36 total yards in the first half and 221 on the night, the bulk of those in the fourth quarter against the reserves.
The defense also forced four turnovers - three fumbles and one interception while the special teams unit blocked a punt.
“I though defensively, we did what we needed to do,” said Fontenot. “I mean, they have some athletes and they are not a bad team. For the most part, I thought we did a lot of good things.”
The one negative on the night occurred late in the second quarter when Jardell Delco, playing fullback at the time, went down with a leg injury as result of a chop block that gave the Gents an extra 15 yards.
“Jardell got banged up a little bit, but I think he will be alright,” said Fontenot of Delco, who also starts on the defensive line. “It was one of those cheap things where they took his legs out and I hate that. But he will be fine.”
The Gents got on the board early following a seven-play, 62-yard drive that set Andrew Simon up for a 25-yard field goal with 8:15 remaining in the opening quarter.
Following a three-and-out by the Jaguars, the Gents took over at midfield on their next possession and they took just three plays to hit pay dirt when Broussard connected with Price on a 35-yard touchdown strike.
The Jaguars finally looked to have the Gents stopped on their third possession of the quarter, but after forcing a CHS punt, LaDerius Anderson coughed it up on the return and Quanterall Robinson recovered the ball at the MHS 25-yard line.
The mistake proved costly five plays later when Griffin punched it in from two yards out to give the Gents a 17-0 advantage as time expired in the first quarter.
The Jaguars were finally able to get on the board midway through the second quarter thanks in part to three crucial penalties on the Gents. A pass interference call gave Madison a first down deep in CHS territory and then back-to-back offsides calls on fourth-and-10 resulted in a first down. Quarterback Jarvis Williams then broke free for a 7-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 17-6.
The Gents made their first and only special teams’ mistake of the game on the ensuing kickoff when Price returned the ball to the 50 but fumbled, giving the Jaguars the ball at mid field.
The Jaguars returned the favor two plays later, however, when an attempt at a little trickery on a halfback pass was broken up and intercepted by Jardell Delco.
Taking over at the MHS 48, the Gents marched 48 yards on eight plays with Griffin scoring on a 2-yard run to push the lead to 24-6.
And the Gents weren’t done just yet.
Ja’Juan Delco blocked a MHS punt, recovered the ball and returned it to the Jaguar’s 8-yard line with just under a minute to go in the half. Griffin picked up six yards on the first play and then punched it in on another 2-yard run for a touchdown. The extra point attempt was wide right and the Gents took a 30-6 cushion into the half.
The Jaguars opened the second half with the ball at their own 20 and moved to the 38 after a short run and a pass interference call. Williams then picked up two yards before Ja’Juan Delco came up with a fumble recovery one play later to set up another score.
The Gents took over at the MHS 43 and let Griffin do all the leg work from there. The junior tailback carried four times, picking up 23 yards before Hebert made a diving reception in the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown. Simon spilt the uprights on the extra point attempt to extend the lead to 37-6.
The Jaguars attempted to answer on their next series when Williams, who completed five passes for 147 yards, hooked up with Kedarion Reynolds for a 48-yard completion at the CHS 37.
That big play was the lone highlight of the drive.
A false start penalty pushed the Jaguars back five yards before Ja’Juan Delco had a tackle for a loss at the 46. An incompletion followed before Madison fumbled and CHS’ Donald Francis recovered it at the 43.
From there, the Gents went back to the air with an 18-yard pass to Price. Broussard then ran a keeper for 14 yards before hitting Price again, this time for 15 yards. Jarvis Harmon, who replaced Griffin at tailback during the series, finished the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 44-6.
Fontenot elected to empty the bench from there and the reserves took the field for Madison’s next offensive series.
The Jaguars took advantage of the Gents youthful defensive unit and marched 80 yards on 10 plays, ending the drive with a 28-yard touchdown run by Cameron Virgil.
The Gents also sent the second unit in offensively on their next series and they marched into Madison territory before a fumble ended the potential scoring drive at the MHS 25.
The Jaguars capitalized on the miscue two plays later. Following a tackle for a loss, Williams hit Johnny Perkins over the middle for an 81-yard touchdown with 21 seconds remaining in the game.
Now, it’s the waiting game for the Gents, who will find out their postseason fate this afternoon when the LHSAA releases its playoff brackets. The Gents were at No. 15 in the Class 4A power ratings heading into Friday’s contest.
“We’re 8-2 and I’m proud of that,” said Fontenot. “We were 7-3 last year and we wanted to improve and I think we did. With the injuries, suspensions and everything that went with it, 8-2 is a good place.
“Now we’ll see if we can get over that second round hump. I don’t think Crowley has been in the third round since the 90’s probably and that’s something that we want to do. But I tell them; too, you don’t get to round three without round one.
“We’ll be excited to play round one and this (victory) should give us a home game for the second year in a row. Our program is moving forward and I think we are in a good place.”