Notre Dame cruises past Sacred Heart

SPECIAL TO THE POST-SIGNAL
VILLE PLATTE - The first hint the Sacred Heart Trojans got that it was going to be a long night was when they lost four yards on their first three offensive plays.
The second was when – a minute later - Notre Dame’s Hayden Bourgeois gathered in a punt at his own 44 and returned it 56 yards for a quick touchdown.
After that, the only thing that could have made things worse for the Trojans was if Pios head coach Lewis Cook and Sacred Heart coach Josh Harper hadn’t agreed to play running time after the Pios had built up a 33-0 lead late in the first half.
“I told the kids early in the week that: “hey, I’m not going to lie to you, we aren’t’ t going to be playing a team like we have been playing (Breaux Bridge, Teurlings, LaGrange, etc.) the first five games.’ “ said Cook, whose No. 2-ranked Pios went on to crush the hapless Trojans, 61-0.
Cook said he continued to preach all week that it wasn’t about the Trojans, anyway.
“I said we can’t worry about that (playing a weak opponent), we’ve got to go out and practice hard to get better or else come Week 9 or 10, we’re going to be behind,” Cook said.
The Pios handled the situation perfectly, he said.
“We weren’t sloppy and I liked our approach,” he said.
The lopsided victory boosted the Pios to 6-0 overall, 3-0 in District 5-AA. The Trojans, moving up this year from Class A to AA, dropped to 2-4 overall and1-2 in league play.
The game, as expected, was a mismatch from the start. By the time it was over, the Pios had scored their most points since putting up 62 points in a first-round playoff game against Thomas Jefferson in 2013 and their second most points ever under Cook at Notre Dame.
Welcoming back standout tailback Lance Bertrand, who saw his first action since suffering a spiral fracture in an ankle on the second play of the team’s season-opening jamboree, the Pios scored in nearly every phase of the game - offensively, defensively and special teams - in building up a 47-0 lead at the half.
They were so dominate in doing so that the stat sheet at half almost looked like a misprint.
At that point - the end of 24 minutes - they had 327 yards of total offense; the Trojans minus-17.
The Pios finished with 17 first downs and 453 yards (256 on the ground) compared to the Trojans’ two first downs and 20 total yards (-21 on the ground).
And that was with the clock continuing to run the second half and subs flooding the field.
“We always tell the kids that it doesn’t matter who we play; we have to do what we do and do it well,” said Cook. “I felt that we had had a good week of practice; we hustled and worked hard and we did it all week long. So, really, I expected to see us go out and get after it hard.”
Bourgeois, who was the catalyst in the Pios’ 35-0 victory over Loreauville a week earlier with a similar punt return for a touchdown as well as a rushing touchdown, provided the spark again Friday with his early punt return.
From that point, it looked almost too easy.
A 2-yard pass from Joe Faulk to Boedy Borill; a 5-yard run by Justin Guidry; a short pass from Faulk to Bertrand, who turned it into a 48-yard catch-and-run touchdown; a 49-yard scoring pass from backup quarterback Bryant Thevis to David Gonzales; a 27-yard run by Bertand and, the coup de grace, a 25-yard interception return for a score by Michael Bourgeois made it 47-0 and not on one of those did the Pios need more than four plays to score.
“We knew we had them outmanned and, really, I was surprised when they punted the ball to Hayden,” said Cook. “In fact, I told Lou Jr. that they wouldn’t do it. And then I look up and the first punt is going to Hayden. I said to Lou: “watch, he’s going to bring it back.”
“After that, I told Hayden to just fair catch punts.”
Despite the ease with which the Pios ran the football and scored, two of their early touchdowns were on pass plays, which Cook explained was unavoidable.
“We had been running the ball a lot (prior to Friday) and we came into the game wanting to work on our throwing game. And, plus, they were smaller and it would have made it less physical on them (Trojans),” said Cook. “Then we had the early punt return for a touchdown and...
“We didn’t come here to embarrass anyone so I felt that if we didn’t throw (early) we wouldn’t be able to throw it later.”
Cook was especially pleased with the performance of Bertrand.
The 2015 district 200-meter sprint champion exploded for a 60-yard touchdown the first time he touched the football Friday, only to have it negated by a hands-to-the-facemask penalty.
Unfazed, he reeled off a 24-yard gain on his next carry to set up Justin Guidry’s touchdown run that made it 20-0 with 3:17 to play in the first quarter.
Then, on his next touch, Bertrand took a Faulk pass in the flat and turned that into a 48-yard touchdown.
To finish his brief appearance he broke 27 yards for yet another touchdown the next time he touched the ball.
“He really gives us a lot when he’s in there,” said Cook, who had been looking forward to Bertrand’s return. “He looked good and broke some good runs. But he got a little winded out there tonight and that’s why we have got to get him some game reps.
“Our intention was to get him 8-10 carries tonight and increase that to 10-15 as he works his way back into shape.
“He’ll get better and better as the season goes on, but we have to get him some reps.”
Bertand’s final figures on the night were impressive for such a limited role: he gained 56 on just three carries, had one reception for 48 yards and scored two touchdowns.
It highlighted an offense which has now scored 136 points (45.3 average) in its three district games.
“Yeah, we played well and we got to play a lot of kids; that was good,” said Cook.
Junior Mason Romero, who scored on a 16-yard run in the third quarter, led the Pios in rushing with 79 yards on four carries and Shea Zaunbrecher, who scored the Pios’ final touchdown (47-yard run) had 62 yards on two carries. Collin Kirsch, who led the Pios in rushing a week earlier, had only two carries for 14 yards as eight different players carried the ball for Notre Dame in what was an abbreviated game.
Faulk was 7-of-8 passing for 129 yards and a touchdown and Thevis was 2-of-2 for 68 yards. Gonzalez was the leading receiver with three catches for 78 yards and a score. Borill had two catches for 22 yards and a touchdown.
The defense, for its part, was equally dominate, pitching its third shutout of the year and lowering its defensive scoring average to 6.0 points per game.
“Those guys played great,” said Cook. “Again, it goes back to the way you handle yourself and how you prepare. I told the whole team that if they practice like they did this past week, we’ll be better this coming week (against West St. Mary).
“We have to do that because come Week 10, it’ll come down to the two best teams in the district (Pios vs. Catholic-New Iberia), but the most important is Week 11, that’s a new season.”