Defense steals show in Notre Dame victory

BREAUX BRIDGE – Maybe it’s playing in Breaux Bridge that brings out the best in the Notre Dame defense. For the second week in a row, the Pios dominated in the trenches and for the second straight trip to the east, Notre Dame did not allow a point to the home standing Tigers.
The Pios held Breaux Bridge to just one first down, 60 yards of offense and even scored a touchdown to post a 20-0 win. It was against Breaux Bridge last season that head coach Lewis Cook joined an elite group of just seven Louisiana head coaches to reach 300 career wins. Friday’s win at Breaux Bridge moved Cook to within two wins of sixth place on the list.
“Our defense was just awesome. We stuffed them on the run and made it tough for them to throw the ball. They completely smothered their offense and really just didn’t give them anything. Offensively, we had our moments, there just weren’t a lot of them. Last week it was turnovers and tonight we hurt ourselves with penalties. Overall it’s always nice to get a win, especially here against a good team like Breaux Bridge.”
It became obvious very early that yards would be hard to come by. Breaux Bridge had three possessions without a first down and Notre Dame two with no success.
Pios fullback Justin Guidry changed the game with one handoff up the middle. Popping through the blocks of his offensive line, Guidry put a quick move on the Tigers middle linebacker and outran the speedy defenders for an 80 yard touchdown with three minutes to play in the first quarter.
“It’s really only his second time to start, so it was nice to see that for him,” added Cook. “We felt he had that kind of potential where the more he plays the better he is going to get. For him to get that big run was obviously good for the team and also for his confidence. For Justin to know he has that capability will make him even better in those situations.”
The defensive battle continued until Pios punter Austin Melancon pinned Breaux Bridge with a 43 yard punt that rolled dead at the Tigers 14 yard line. On the first snap, Breaux Bridge QB Julian Leon scrambled right under pressure by the Pios defense and was stripped of the ball.
Shea Zaunbracher scooped up the fumble and ran it in for the score. Jarrett Doucet added the PAT for a 14-0 Notre Dame lead at the half.
The Pios defense held the Tigers without a first half first down and minus two yards of offense. On the night, the aggressive Notre Dame defense posted three sacks, seven tackles for a loss, two interceptions and eight pass breakups as Tigers QBs completed just 7 of 24 passes.
“The offenses we play against do certain things that cause us to have to adjust,” explained defensive coordinator James McCleary. “It may look like we are blitzing or being overly aggressive, but we really aren’t. Coach Vicknair does such a wonderful job of teaching technique and our guys are so sound in what they are doing that they play fast and aggressive just naturally.”
With the second half kickoff going to the Pios, the stage was set for halftime adjustments and a third quarter drive to take the pressure off the defense. After two first downs, Breaux Bridge stiffened on defense to force a punt.
“They were real active inside, pinching the tackles in and crossing our face a bit,” noted Coach Cook. “Their quickness gave us some problems and when we tried a little misdirection they would recover so fast. We weren’t sharp and didn’t do as good a job up front as we needed to. They would slide off the blocks and we want to grab them and then the penalties come.”
Thirteen of them, to be exact, for 121 yards. But Notre Dame got the break they needed on the ensuing punt. ND linebacker Nick Hanks recovered the misplayed punt at the Breaux Bridge 30 yard line.
After a penalty, quarterback Joe Faulk swept right and cut inside past defenders for a 20 yard touchdown run. It wasn’t the usual second half scoring drive, but Faulk’s shifty run gave the Pios the same cushion at 20-0 with eight minutes to play in the third quarter.
“I wish the conditions would have been better,” said Coach Cook. “It was wet and muggy and I would have liked to throw it a little more, but we didn’t want to try and do too much. You could see what Joe gives us with his running ability on that score and some other big runs. We’ll keep featuring that and try to get a little better in the throwing game.”
Notre Dame did make the stat sheet look respectable with 262 yards on the ground led by the 112 yards from Justin Guidry on just seven carries. Gabe Petry had 53 yards and Je Faulk added 49 total on the ground.
“It was our own fault,” added Cook. “ I told the kids that the way we played offensively, that’s about how we practiced all week. If we don’t get better during the week, we are going to hurt ourselves down the road. They pretty much beat us at the line of scrimmage. We’re better than that, but we didn’t get much going on offense. We have a little ways to go there.”
The other side of the ball appears to be just fine. Safety Hayden Bourgeois and tackle Austin Melancon had big games with seven tackles each and Bourgeois had an interception. Paul Guidry and Shea Zaunbracher had six tackles each, Pat Burleigh added 5 stops and Jake Reiners logged four tackles and knocked away four pass attempts.
Punter Austin Melancon provided a boost on special teams with a 41 yard average on 7 kicks that kept the field position in Notre Dame favor. And the offense pieced together a fourth quarter possession to help run out the clock on win number two of the regular season.
“We kept is kind of close to the vest to not let them back into the game,” said Cook. “Hopefully, we have a couple of games coming up where we can get some work in on the passing game. We were happy about the win, but not ecstatic because we aren’t where we need to be offensively.”