Iota falls to Lake Arthur in tough contest

LAKE ARTHUR – It was a bit of a familiar feeling.
Somewhere around the third missed tackle, or the three-possession game margin, it felt all too familiar.
Still, the Iota Bulldogs fought and kept battling back in the second half in a game that ended up 39-21 as a final in favor of the Lake Arthur Tigers at Jeff Doland Memorial Stadium.
“[It’s] probably the only thing we did right, tonight, we didn’t give up, that’s good,” said Iota coach Josh Andrus. “But, we have to learn how to prepare from Monday through Friday.
“We probably had one of our worst weeks of practice, and it showed bad in the first half.”
Yes, there were chances and Iota even threatened to make the game interesting late, but really, it simply became Trey Hargrave and Michael Ware versus Iota, and more often than not, the combination of the junior and senior, respectively, at running back proved to be too much.
“Missed tackles – same thing as the jamboree,” said Andrus. “We missed Levi [Manuel] a lot tonight. He’s usually plugging the gaps in the middle, and we missed him on the defensive side of the ball.”
Manuel missed Friday’s contest with a shoulder injury, Andrus hopes to have him back next week.
The duo finished with 317 yards and six touchdowns after carrying the ball a combined 44 times, averaging over 7 yards a carry. Andrus knew that the key to success for Iota Friday night would be containing the two backs and limiting the yards after contact of the duo, particularly against Hargrave. The Bulldogs were unable to that and found themselves trying to keep up and catch up all game long.
Due to a concussion Bulldogs quarterback Trae Rambin was once again sidelined this week and the Bulldogs called on senior Austen Montgomery, who typically plays exclusively on defense, to lead the team. Rambin is also expected to return to action next week.
Though he played well, the playbook limitations of a fourth string quarterback proved to be a bit of an issue early on as Iota relied heavily on its run game to move the ball, that didn’t go to plan in the first few series of the game. It took a while for Iota’s offense to find any rhythm to speak of.
In fact, it actually took 12 minutes for both teams to start cooking offensively. But, in the winding seconds of the first quarter, Ware (Lake Arthur) would run the ball in for the game’s opening score from 76 yards out.
Then it was Hargrave who scored with 4:55 left in the second quarter. Iota answered with an 8-yard pass from Montgomery to Cade Covalt with 1:52 left. Seemingly, Iota had found it answers and its offensive rhythm, but a 10 yard run from Hargrave with less than a minute remaining in the second quarter kept Iota at bay to the tune of 20-7 at the half.
It is the one thing that Andrus said Iota could not afford to do – get down by three possessions and look to play stronger.
“We have some good stuff going, it’s just, we can’t wait until so late to do it,” he said. “We can’t wait until we’re down 20 to kick it in. We have to play that way from the start.
The Tigers would tack on two more touchdowns in the third quarter, both runs by Hargrave, within 30 seconds of one another, opened the game way back up in favor of Lake Arthur. Up 32-7 with 7:39 left in the third quarter, Lake Arthur had seemingly shored up the contest.
No one seemed to tell Iota, though. In fact, led by Montgomery and the Bulldogs’ wide receiving core, Iota began relying heavily on the passing game. Montgomery would end up passing for over 200 yards in the contest because of it.
“[Montgomery] did good for not taking a snap all year until this, he did really well,” said Andrus. “We actually made some plays. We had a sophomore (Brett Clay) that this is his second year playing wide receiver, he makes a screen. We have a Bliss [Deshazo] who does great after the catch.”
After scoring in the late third quarter and mid-fourth quarter via a 2-yard and a 5-yard run by Kaleb Guillory, Iota had gotten the score within two possessions.
A late touchdown by Hargrave, however, re-cemented Lake Arthur’s victory.
Hargrave carried the ball 28 times, rushing for 184 yards and five touchdowns; Ware added 16 carries, rushing 133 yards and a touchdown. The Bulldogs’ run game was led by Guillory, who rushed for 108 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries.
In the air, Lake Arthur’s lone pass came from Donavon Benoit (1-1 for 41 yards) to Trace Broussard. Meanwhile, Montgomery finished the night 14-24 with a touchdown and an interception and 217 yards. His top receivers were Alex Frey (4-76), Brett Clay (3-63), Bliss Deshazo (5-60) and Cade Covalt (2-18 and a touchdown).