Gators run past Gents

CROWLEY – Heading into Thursday’s home contest against LaGrange, Crowley High coach Josh Fontenot knew that Gators’ running back Markell Hawthorne was good.
Fontenot found out how good all game long.
The junior running back gashed the Gents for 273 yards and two touchdowns on the ground and also added one reception for a 60-yard touchdown in a 43-24 victory at Gardiner Memorial Staduim.
“That’s a good back,” said Fontenot, whose team fell to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in league play with the loss. “He just pounds on you so much and he is a heck of a football player.
“You just don’t really know how tough a guy is until you get out there. We knew he was tough because we played him last year, but he’s probably put on 20 pounds since then. He just runs great. He’s a bulldozer, but he also has some wheels and he can make you miss.”
Hawthorne’s two touchdown runs were from short yardage, but it was the legwork between those short gainers that were so impressive.
He carried the ball eight times on a nine-play drive and racked up 90 yards on the Gators’ first scoring drive of the night.
He added another touchdown on the Gators’ fourth possession of the first half, that one on a 60-yard screen pass from quarterback Jaylun Myles. That was after Myles hit Alvinosky Lafleur on a 23-yard touchdown reception.
“The big plays have been a concern for us,” said Fontenot. “It has been a concern of ours for two years now and we know we have to correct it. Some nights we’re better at it than others. Tonight, we gave up a few of them, but, tonight, it wasn’t a busted assignment night. Tonight, this guy just kind of had a bowled-over-us-type night. I can deal with a better football player running through us better than I can with a missed assignment, big play. That’s what we were dealing with tonight; just a guy that was really good and busted some plays on us.”
Even with Hawthorne’s big night, the Gents had their opportunities.
Trailing 20-7 late in the second quarter, the Gents marched into the LHS red zone, but had to settle for an Andrew Simon field goal form 22 yards out on fourth-and-5 from the Gators’ 5-yard line.
The kick sent the Gents into the locker room staring at a 10-point deficit.
“We looked a little timid on defense in the first half,” said Fontenot. “Coach (Jeptha) Wall got in there and told them that we are in the right spots, we just have to go in there and hit him (Hawthorne).”
The Gents did just that to start the second half and forced the Gators to punt following a sack by Griffin, who was playing in spots at linebacker.
Griffin turned right back around and made another big play, this time on offense.
Following a big reception by Mikal Hebert for 25 yards, Griffin took a handoff from quarterback Pate Broussard and rumbled 45 yards for the first score of the third quarter. Simon’s extra point then cut the Gators’ lead to 20-17.
The Gents’ defense came through again on the Gators’ ensuing possession and forced another punt.
The momentum seemed to have shifted and everything was going in the Gents’ favor.
That is until the first play of their next drive.
Broussard dropped back to pass and was flushed from the pocket. He outran two defenders to the sideline where he went airborne, attempting to pick up extra yardage.
LaGrange’s Dante Davis hit Broussard in midair, jarring the ball loose and the Gators recovered it and ran it back to the CHS 9-yard line.
The Gators were hit with an unsportsmanlike like conduct penalty, pushing them back to the 24-yard line, but the damage was done.
Hawthorne picked up 22 yards on the next play and then scored from two yards out on the next. Lafleur’s reception on the 2-point conversion pushed the lead back to 11 (28-17) in a matter of 33 seconds.
“That was a big turnover, it really was,” said Fontenot of the fumble. “But what am I going to tell the kid? He’s fighting his tail off to get extra yards, to try and get us a first down and he’s running for his life. I just told him to let it go. We were still in the game.”
The cushion, however, got a little larger on LaGrange’s next possession.
After forcing the Gents to punt, the Gators started on their own 29 and continued to feed Hawthorne the ball. He gained 13 yards on the first two plays before West broke free on a busted play for 42 yards. Two plays later, Myles punched it in from five yards out. Hawthorne added the two-point conversion run to extend the lead to 28-17 with just over nine minutes to go in the game.
The Gents, however, answered with a big play of their own on their next offensive series.
A pass interference call put the Gents on the Gators’ side of the field and following a short run by Broussard, Griffin broke free for a 41-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 36-24 with 7:53 remaining.
The Gents then executed a perfect onside kick and Hebert recovered at midfield.
The Gents failed to capitalize, however and eventually turned the ball over on downs after a holding penalty and two incompletions.
LaGrange went back to work, handing the ball off to Hawthorne and he got the Gators to the CHS 15 before a fumble was recovered by Quanterral Robinson.
The Gents moved the ball into LaGrange territory once more, but they were forced to turn the ball over on downs again.
The Gators added one final score, a 7-yard run by Myles with three minutes remaining.
“We got beat by a better team tonight, we really did,” said Fontenot. “They got away from us with that last score, but you’re down 12 with eight minutes to go. No regrets, nothing to be disappointed in. I thought we actually played better tonight than we did last week against Washington-Marion.”
And just like last week, the one thing Fontenot was pleased with the most was the fact that there was no quit in his squad.
“Our kids are resilient and they play with heart,” said Fontenot. “We talked all week about taking advantage of our opportunity and not letting it pass you by and I think we did the best we could with our opportunity tonight.
“I’m proud of our guys, I really am. That’s a good team. I can’t come in here and say we gave it away. No, we got beat.”
Overall on the offensive side, it was a showdown of the tailbacks.
Griffin actually went toe-to-toe with Hawthorne for most of the night and finished with 173 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries. Hawthorne did his damage on 35 carries.
“I think you had two very good tailbacks out there tonight and two tailbacks that ran very, very hard,” said Fontenot. ‘It was worth the price of admission to see that.”
The Gents finished with 323 total yards. LaGrange racked up 462.
Broussard followed Griffin with 43 yards on 11 carries while Jardell Delco had 14 yards on three runs.
“Offensively, I didn’t think we played bad at all,” said Fontenot. “We thought we could get four or five scores and we got four. I though we moved the ball well. They are hard to block so to put 24 (points) on those guys and get the yards that we got, I think we played okay offensively.”
Broussard also completed six of 15 pass attempts for 93 yards.
Price had one reception for 30 yards and Hebert hauled in one pass for 25 yards. Griffin also caught three passes for 22 yards and John Marceaux had one reception for 16 yards.
Price also racked up 110 yards on six kickoff returns.
“Jaco Price made some big plays tonight,” said Fontenot. “And he made a big catch under some very tight coverage. Whenever they (LaGrange) will call timeout to change their coverage to double cover him on third down, you know what’s coming.”
The Gents must now turn their attention to next week’s contest against the Rayne Wolves. That game will be played in Rayne on Friday and will be televised by Cox Sports.