St. Edmund blanks Iota, 8-0

IOTA – Oh what might have been.
The Iota Bulldogs had chances, but they made mistakes on a messy field. One mistake allowed St. Edmund to score 8 points. It was the only points the St. Edmund Blue Jays needed, however on their way to their first victory of the season.
“You can’t question [the team’s] effort for the whole game,” said Iota coach Josh Andrus. “You’ve got an offense like that, and you hold them to 8 points? You’ve played one hell of the game.
“When you play a team like this that runs this fast a pace and runs that many plays, you have to keep your defense off the field and we did that at times, but other times we didn’t.”
Iota (1-1) found itself in a different kind of marathon Friday night. Instead of a four overtime thriller, it was a slow, methodical defensive struggle.
The statistics from Friday’s contest will show a different story, especially when Iota allowed 449 yards to the Blue Jays, but the numbers are not full truth-tellers this time. Most of that yardage came in the second half, when Iota’s defense allowed several mini-gashers of plays by St. Edmund.
The Bulldogs offense had its own issues, in the first half it was sluggish output, then when quarterback Trae Rambin was injured in the mid-second quarter, fellow freshman quarterback Kam Aucoin was given the reigns, dwindling down the possible offensive plays for Iota.
“We were limited on offense because they knocked out their quarterback in the first half, but effort was not a problem,” said Andrus. “Considering [Aucoin is the third string quarterback], I thought we did a good job. We made a couple of throws, couple of catches. He doesn’t get to work with the first string month, so they’re a little off on that.”
Andrus was also complimentary of Aucoin’s ability to step into the role after only joining the Iota team roughly a month to six weeks ago. Rambin’s availability for next week was not immediately known.
St. Edmund (1-1) failed to land the knockout blow several times Friday night. The Blue Jays were stopped deep in the red zone in the third quarter and Iota kept several threatening drives by St. Edmund in check.
“Those guys stepped up big time,” said Andrus. “I think if not for a couple of big plays, they weren’t really moving the ball. They may have had one [steady] drive.
“Our defense played hard, responsible – except for a couple of plays – assignment football and that’s what you gotta do against these guys. They’re gonna make a couple of plays, it’s just, don’t give up the chunk plays. We gave up one chunk play and that’s what killed us.”
The Blue Jays’ defense wasn’t anything to scoff at in its own right, holding the Bulldogs to 290 total yards and only six first downs. A strong showing by St. Edmund defensively coupled with Iota’s own offensive issues hurt many of the Bulldogs few and fleeing opportunities.
“Offensively, we had good points, but, again, we made fumbles and bad snaps in the end zone,” said Andrus. “I thought we moved the ball pretty well.
Of course, not helping Iota on either side of the ball were the sheer amount of penalties – particularly in the second half that either gave St. Edmund new life or hurt Iota’s already struggling chances. The Bulldogs finished the night with seven penalties for 60 yards.
St. Edmund’s lone scoring drive came in the middle of the second quarter with seniors Drake Brunet (quarterback) and Gibson LaFleur connecting for the 30-yard touchdown with 7:16 remaining. Brunet then hooked up with Noah Clause for the 2-point conversion pass completion.
The drive only two 3 minutes and 10 seconds and 81 yards on nine plays for St. Edmund to find the Promised Land.
The game’s only scoring drive began on the St. Edmund 19-yard line and traveled the distance with a balanced offensive game plan that was aided by penalty calls against Iota.
The Bulldogs’ would no sooner pull off a big defensive stop or conjure up a mildly successful offensive play Friday night before they would feel the pressure and give the Blue Jays new life.
St. Edmund’s Brunet led the way for the Blue Jays. He had 19 completions on 42 attempts. Cole Bergeron was his leading receiver with seven receptions for 85 yards, Gibson LeFleur added four catches for 68 yards. He also had a touchdown. Brunet’s 18 rushes for 23 yards as the leading rusher for St. Edmund.
Iota’s Rambin went 2-8 for 94 yards on the night and Ardoin went 1-11 for 24 yards and an interception. Kaleb Guillory’s 18 carries for 59 yards led all Bulldogs on the slick, muddy ground. Cade Covalt’s 69-yard catch led the way with Bliss Deshazo (2-49) adding to the cause.