Wolves fall to Gents in parish showdown
RAYNE - Rivals, especially parish rivals, produce football games that are sure to be spoken of -- especially when it comes to Rayne and Crowley.
In a game that had been billed as a showdown between two of the area’s high-powered offenses, the Wolves and Gents hit the ground running Friday night. But it was to be billed the Crowley High’s Ty’Von Griffin show.
With a regional Cox Television audience and capacity crowd at Wolf Stadium looking on, the junior running back broke loose for a season-high 288 rushing yards and five touchdowns in helping power the Gents to a pivotal 33-21 victory over arch-rival Rayne.
“When our offensive line is working like that and he (Griffin) is running like that, it’s easy for me to call plays,” CHS coach Josh Fontenot said afterward.
The victory sent the Gents to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in District 4-4A play heading into next week’s league finale against Eunice.
The Wolves, who entered the game ranked No. 8 in Class 4A, fell to 6-2 and 3-2 in district.
Initially, the game plan for the Gents was to open up throwing the football. And they did to some degree. But once Griffin got going, that plan went out the window.
“We came in here thinking we were going to throw it more, but why? I mean, just feed him (Griffin) the rock,” said Fontenot.
Griffin picked up 178 yards and four touchdowns in the first half alone.
That and the fact that he Gents defense limited the Wolves’ Wing-T offense to just two first downs and 41 total yards resulted in CHS taking a commanding 26-0 lead at the intermission.
“The first half, they just dominated us. I mean we just didn’t play,” said RHS coach Curt Ware. “If we would have played at all in the first half, I feel we would have had an opportunity.”
The second half, however, was a different story for Ware’s squad.
The Wolves scored two touchdowns in the third quarter to get within two scores (26-14) and then traded touchdowns with the Gents in the fourth.
“The second half was kind of what I expected; both offenses moving the ball pretty good,” said Ware. “At halftime, I just told our guys that they could step up and see what we are made of or get embarrassed, one of the two. And they took the challenge. Just a shame that it took us until halftime to realize that.
“I mean they (Crowley) have a good football team, but I would have liked to have seen us play four quarters and seen what would have happened.”
Rayne’s second-half surge, which included an 11-yard touchdown pass from Jaylon Reed to John Michael Besse on fourth-down and a 7-yard touchdown run by Deontrey Wilridge, didn’t come as a surprise to Fontenot.
“You get to the second half and you knew they were going to come out [inspired]; that’s a good team right there,” said Fontenot of Rayne. “They weren’t just going to die. They made an adjustment, they found something that we were doing and they hit it on us.
Offensively, the Gents got going early, courtesy of a pair of big plays.
Quarterback Pate Broussard hooked up with Thomas on a 47-yard pass play on the first play of the game and Griffin took a handoff on the next play for a 25-yard touchdown run.
Thomas turned right around and made another huge play when he picked off a pass from Reed on defense at the Gents own 37-yard line.
The interception set up a 13-play drive that ended in a 5-yard touchdown run by Griffin.
The Gents started their next drive at their own 30-yard line and marched down the field in 11 plays before Griffin scored again on a 2-yard run.
Griffin’s final trip to the end zone in the first half was probably his most impressive run of the night. After breaking through the heart of the Wolves defense, the junior tailback outran the Wolves’ speedy secondary en route to a 71-yard touchdown.
Rayne started the second half with a nine-play, 81-yard drive the ended in Reed’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Besse.
The Gents’ lone mistake on offense, a fumble on an option to Griffin, set up the Wolves’ second scoring drive of the game when Grant Abshire covered the loose ball at the RHS 23.
From there, it took the Wolves 11 plays before Wilridge scored from seven yards out. John Michael Besse also had a big reception during the series that went for 30 yards.
The Gents answered back on their next possession when Griffin scored from three yards out.
Rayne’s final drive of the night included three big pass plays to Trevon Fontenot. The senior wideout hauled in a 12-yard pass on fourth down to move the chains and he then had a 53-yard reception to get the Wolves deep into Crowley territory. Two plays later, on third-and-goal from the 15-yard line, Reed found Fontenot again for the final touchdown of the night.
In Rayne’s 299 offensive yards for the night, the scales were leveled with 141 passing yards and 158 on the ground.
QB Jaylon Reed connected on nine of 17 attempts with two touchdowns.
Leading Rayne receivers were Trevon Fontenot with three receptions for 80 yards and a touchdown. John Michael Besse turned in three catches of his own for 38 yards and a touchdown.
Also recording a reception for the Wolves were Deontrey Wilridge, Donald Doucet and Javon Cormier.
Rayne’s ground attack was led by Deontrey Wilridge who collected 130 yards on 21 carries while scoring a touchdown. John Michael Besse donated five carries for 32 yards.
Leading the Rayne defense in tackles were John Michael Besse, Hunter Keely, Donavon Cormier, Austin Coleman, Todd Broussard, Desmond Cole, Jaquan Cormier, Grant Abshire, TJ Bearb and Nicky Faucheux. Besse had the lone tackle for a loss behind the line of scrimmage.
The Wolves will continue district play Friday when they travel to Beau Chene High.