Gents top Iowa in season opener

IOWA – The Crowley Gents weren’t exactly at their best Friday night in their season opener against the Iowa Yellow Jackets.
The Gents’ high-powered offense sputtered early on and turned the ball over twice on the night. In addition, they were flagged for 70 yards in penalties that kept drives alive for the host Yellow Jackets time and time again.
That, however, wasn’t nearly enough to stop the Gents, who even on a bad night, cruised to an impressive 31-13 victory over the Yellow Jackets.
“We are going to get everyone’s knockout punches and they came out here and whipped us, especially early in the game,” said CHS coach Josh Fontenot, whose team turned the ball over on downs on their first offensive series of the game and then were forced to punt on their next possession.
“And we had some silly issues, some bad snaps and some penalties where we just shot ourselves in the foot.
“You know, you score 31 points, but you can probably count four to five touchdowns that we left out there. But with that said, their is a lot that I am very proud of tonight.”
One of those things that Fontenot was most pleased with was the play of his defense.
The Gents held the Yellow Jackets to just 55 yards of total offense in the first half and gave up just one score, that coming on a fumble recovery by Darius Daniels that was returned 72 yards for a touchdown.
Crowley’s defensive unit also forced four turnovers in the first half on two fumbles and a pair of interceptions by Chris Lewis and Mikal Hebert.
“Our defense was phenomenal tonight,” said Fontenot. “I’m so proud of coach (Jeptha) Wall and our defense. Thats a pretty good team right there and  we just won in pretty comfortable fashion.”
It was a collective effort defensively with Ed Yokum and John Marceaux making countless tackles. Desmond Harmon also made a handful of stops, including a sack, and Jardell Delco has some bone crushing hits.
But Lewis was by far the standout, adding a number of pass breakups to go along with his interception.
“Chris is just a sophomore,” said Fontenot. “But guess what? He covers Jacq’Co Price and Terrell Thomas every day  at practice and he covers them well; that’s a pretty good practice. He has earned every snap he got tonight and he’s going to get a lot more. He played great.”
Not to be outdone, the Gents’ offense put up some eye-popping numbers despite having somewhat of an off night. They were able to rack up 457 total yards with the bulk of on the ground.
And the leader of that ground attack came as no surprise.
  With the passing game sputtering in the first half and tailback Keith Wilson sidelined with an injury, Fontenot elected to go with old reliable - Ty’Von Griffin.
Griffin didn’t dissappoint.
After limited touches in both the scrimmage and the jamboree, the senior standout carried 27 times and racked up 201 yards and four touchdowns.
“He (Griffin) is a man,” said Fontenot of last year’s leading rusher who is also getting snaps at linebacker. “Over 200 yards and four touchdowns, he is a grown man. And the thing that is impressive is that he hasn’t been practicing as the feature back; he’s been practicing as a dual guy so he’s getting half the reps. So for him to come in and get 27 carries, on a high humidity night...that was impressive.”
Griffin shared carries on the night with a number of players, including sophomore Donald Francis, who showed he is ready for varsity play by ripping off seven carries for 52 yards during the Gents’ final drive of the game.
Griffin had one reception but it was a big one going for 22 yards.
Overall, the passing attack might have started out sluggish but senior quarterback Pate Broussard righted the ship in the second half. After going 6-for-15 for 76 yards in the first two frames, Broussard completed eight of his 11 attempts in the second half for 97 yards.
“Early on, we had some misfires and we had some drops,” said Fontenot. “But they covered us well. We were trying to go deep and those aren’t guaranteed balls. We were close on some but were a little off.
“But Pate got himself together and we had some guys make some big catches. Xavier Johnson played great, Jacq’Co had a great catch.”
  Broussard also had five carries for 20 yards on the night.
Terrell Thomas was Broussard’s main target, hauling in four passes for 45 yards while Johnson and Hebert each had three catches each for 30 yards apiece. Price added two receptions for 43 yards and Griffin had one for 22.
Another big factor in the Gents’ victory was the performance turned in by Darrid Romero. The junior kicker drilled his first field goal of his prep career, splitting the uprights from 24 yards  out in the first quarter. He was also a perfect 4-for-4 on extra points, did an outstanding job on kickoffs and he averaged 42 yards on four punts after nailing two that went 50 yards.
“I’m so proud of Darrid and how well he kicked tonight,” said Fontenot. “First career field goal, perfect on extra points and he placed every kickoff and punt where we wanted it. He might be our MVP tonight. I don’t give MVP honors but we give special team’s player of the week and he’s getting that one.”
Overall, Fontenot was pleased with his team’s performance but says there are still a lot of things to clean up.
“I’m proud of the way we persevered on offense tonight,” said Fontenot. “When you persevere and get 31, maybe you have a shot to be pretty good.
“I’m happy with the win and I’m proud of the fact that we won a game when we didn’t play our best. But we have a ton of work to do if we are going to get where we all think we are supposed to get.”