Pios work out kinks in victory over LaGrange

CROWLEY – It wasn’t the most perfect of performances, but it goes in the win column nonetheless. Notre Dame overcame five turnovers with a smothering defense to beat LaGrange, 24-6, in the regular season opener Friday night.
“We’ve played them three years and we knew they weren’t going to go away,” noted Pios coach Lewis Cook. “Their defense was every bit as good as what we saw last week. They are so athletic and they just keep playing and coming at you. We had some nice holes, we look up and we only get two or three yards. It’s nice to get that first game out of the way and really nice to get a win.”
The Notre Dame defense was also every bit as good as its reputation limiting the Gators to 184 yards of total offense and 51 of those came on one play. Take that out of the equation and LaGrange averaged two yards a play.
It was the Pios defense that set up the first score. After forcing a punt on the first possession, a high snap resulted in a safety and a 2-0 lead four minutes into the game.
Notre Dame took the ensuing kickoff and marched 45 yards in nine plays for a 9-0 lead after Jarrett Doucet kicked the extra point. Quarterback Joe Faulk completed an 18 yard pass over the middle to tight end Ethan Smith and Faulk ran it in from seven yards for the score.
“They gave us a little different look than we expected, so we had to hunt ad peck a little bit to get going,” added Pios coach Cook. “Defensively I thought we played lights out all night and they kept putting us back in position to score points.”
Jake Reiners recovered a Gators fumble at the LaGrange 28 yard line, but the Pios fumbled it back at the eight and the defense held to force another punt. Hayden Bourgeois returned 40 yards to the LaGrange one and stepped in at halfback to take it in from there for a 15-0 lead.
Special teams scored another safety on a blocked punt to make it 17-0 with ten minutes to go in the half, but QB Joe Faulk was intercepted on his next three passes and Gabe Petry lost his second fumble of the half after a twenty yard run to mid field.
“We owned the field position and we moved the ball,” noted coach Cook. “If we don’t turn it over we probably have two more scores and we aren’t as concerned right now. It was really more us stopping ourselves.”
Notre Dame almost salvaged a score on the last play of the half. Faulk lofted a perfect strike to Boedy Borill on a 28 yard corner post just short of the end zone as time ran out at the one.
“Our defense had to stay out there the whole first half,” said Cook. “We couldn’t hang onto the ball and that may have cost us a couple more scores to make it easier on ourselves.”
LaGrange had just two first downs and 49 yards in the first half, but pieced together a 74 yard drive on its first possession of the third quarter. Senior back Markell Hawthorne reversed field and ran 51 yards down the Pios sideline to the Notre Dame 23 yard line.
On fourth and ten, QB Colton Frank scrambled out of the pocket for seventeen yards to the Pios six. Hawthorne took it in two snaps later from three yards to cut the Pios lead to 17-6.
“That Hawthorne kid is a good back for them,” added Cook. “He wasn’t the MVP in that 4A district by accident last year. He got loose one time against us and I can live with that.”
Notre Dame responded with a characteristic 57 yard drive in thirteen plays. Joe Faulk completed a 22 yard pass to Adam Berken on a third down and fourteen to keep the drive alive.
Running back Gabe Petry, who led the Pios with 84 yards on 19 carries, picked up tough yards with five carries and Joe Faulk, who finished with 63 yards on 11 carries, optioned for 21 yards to the LaGrange 15 yard line.
On fourth and nine from the Gators 14, Faulk found Ethan Smith in the left flat and the senior tight end rambled into the end zone. Jarrett Doucet added the PAT to make it 24-6.
“I was really proud to see our team respond the way they did,” said Cook. “The biggest thing was they scored and we came back and answered it with a drive and a big fourth down play that got us in the end zone with Ethan making a good run after the catch. Joe Faulk made a big throw on that drive and Adam Berken made a big catch for us to get a first down. We made some big plays when we had to. That says a lot about these kids, but we have a lot of work ahead of us.”
The score would hold as both teams settled in to defensive stops and possession changes in the fourth quarter. The Pios defense recorded eight sacks and seven tackles for lost yardage.
Linebacker Pat Burleigh was in on 11 tackles and safeties Pete Brown and Hayden Bourgeois had ten tackles each. Brown logged nine solo stops and had a 22 yard interception return.
“Our guys did a heck of a job defensively,” Cook added. “We put them out there too much in the first half, got them a little tired, but they worked through it and made it hard on LaGrange to do anything.”
Notre Dame will travel to Breaux Bridge next week. The Pios rolled to a 51-21 win at home last season, but on the road has been a tougher task against the Tigers.
“I’m sure they have that score from last year posted somewhere in the locker room,” Cook added with a smile. “They’ll give us all we can handle and we’ll have our hands full. I think we grew up a little bit against LaGrange and learned a lot in the game. That’s why we play good football teams that will challenge you. We’ll just go back to work now and try to get ready for next week to go take on a good Breaux Bridge team.”