Notre Dame silences Teurlings

CROWLEY – That ground trembling sensation you may have experienced Friday night in the Crowley area was not an earthquake. It was just the Notre Dame Pios trampling 4A’s second ranked Teurlings Rebels, 28-23.
There aren’t enough superlatives to describe the 41st meeting of area rivals. It was about as perfect as a game plan could play out for Pios coach Lewis Cook.
“I’m excited about us being able to come in and play like we did. Our defense has been playing really good but offensively it was time to put something together and bless their hearts, they did it against a very good team.”
Notre Dame had drives of 73, 74, 77 and 98 yards. The Pios kept the ball for over 33 minutes and 76 offensive plays to just under 15 minutes and 52 for the Rebels. Notre Dame rushed for 325 yards and 407 total with 28 first downs while the Pios defense held Teurlings to 230 yards.
“That was a good football game,” added Cook. “We knew possession time was going to be a big factor and it was something we felt we needed to try and do, but you never know how it is going to work out. Our guys played lights out on both sides of the ball.”
The biggest question coming in was which team could get a stop on the other to get the upper hand. The answer came on the first possession when Notre Dame forced a punt.
The Pios marched 73 yards in 14 plays behind the running of Collin Kirsch and Joe Faulk. On second and goal, quarterback Faulk connected with Boedy Borill for an 8-yard TD pass to cap a six and a half minute drive. Jarrett Doucet added the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
Teurlings answered with an 86 yard scoring drive. Rebels tailback Noah Harris turned the corner for a 49 yard run to the Pios eight. QB Cole Kelley hit Jansen Lormand out of the slot for a TD to make it 7-7.
Notre Dame got the lead back on the next series pounding the Rebs with nine straight running plays from the Pios 26 to the Teurlings 16 yard line. On the next snap, Joe Faulk pulled up and threw to Boedy Borill over the middle and he split defenders for a 16 yard TD catch to cap the 11 play, 74 yard scoring drive and make it 14-7.
Again Teurlings answered with help from a couple of Pios penalties for 25 yards of the 65 yard Rebel drive. Kelley found receiver Holland Griffin behind the defense for a 30 yard TD pass to tie the game at 14.
Two plays later, the only turnover of the game came on a Pios fumble at the ND 35. It took eleven plays for the Rebs to get to the five yard line, but the Pios forced a field goal and Teurlings led 17-14 at the half.
“It was a pretty even football game at the half,” noted Cook. “We stopped them once and they stopped us once, but our guys have had their backs against the wall and we felt pretty good about where we were at the half.”
Notre Dame already had 142 rushing yards at the half and most of the Rebs yards came on the long run and the TD pass. More importantly Coach Lewis Cook was in his preferred position to receive the second half kick.
“We felt like we might need to mix in a few more throws in the second half because when you ask your team to go 12 or 15 plays for every score, something is going to jump up and bite you. We wanted to get some 15 or 20 yard plays to shorten the drives.”
That would have to wait a series because Teurlings just couldn’t stop the Pios ground game. Joe Faulk went back to work with an option here and a handoff there to either Gabe Petry, Collin Kirsch or Sam Hoffpauir right through the Rebs front line.
Kirsch had a 25 yard run off the edge and on third and goal at the three, Faulk faked it inside and trotted around the collapsed defense for the touchdown. The 12 play, 77 yard drive gave the Pios a 21-17 lead.
“We’ve been blocking pretty good all year and looking at the way we were able to move it against STM in the jamboree, I was thinking these guys can’t be any better than they are on defense,” explained Cook. “I thought if we could find that rhythm on offense we could control the game and the kids just did a great job of executing.”
Notre Dame did not punt in the game. Teurlings did on the next series and that ever important defensive stop was there for the Pios, but the punt pinned Notre Dame at its two yard line.
Fullback Justin Guidry gains eight up the middle, Petry gets another nine and Guidry gets five for another first down. On third and 14 at the Teurlings 27, Faulk passed to tight end Ethan Smith for 17 yards. From the Rebels 45, Faulk connected with David Gonzales for 21 yards down the middle.
On the third play of the fourth quarter, Gabe Petry powered thirteen yards for the score. The 98 yard drive lasted 15 plays and took 5:22 off the clock for a 28-17 Pios lead.
“Joe Faulk really grew up as a quarterback, especially with the atmosphere in the game,” Cook said of his senior leader. “He made good decisions, made some nice throws when we needed them and I was really happy for him to have that kind of game.”
Faulk led the Pios with 108 yards on 24 carries with a TD run. He completed 6 of 12 passes for 82 yards and two scores. His passes were on the money and the incompletions were safely thrown where the ball could be caught but not intercepted. It was a veteran performance.
“Whoever wins the battle up front always wins the game,” Faulk said afterwards. “We went in with our goal being to run the ball and control the game and it worked out for us. I do think we kind of shocked them a little bit. They probably thought they were going to come in and throw the ball around like they did last year, but our defense took that away.”
Teurlings QB Cole Kelley is headed to Arkansas and the SEC next season. Against Notre Dame, Kelley had probably his toughest night ever with just 13 completions on 37 passes and only 153 yards through the air.
The Pios defense gets all the credit for that. Playing most of the night in a nickel set to cover the five receivers in pass routes, the Pios secondary recorded 12 pass breakups. Senior cornerback Michael Bourgeois drew coverage on the Rebs top receiver and had seven of those deflections.
“From what we saw and what we planned, we felt like we could cover them. I was in man coverage about 90% of the time. Everyone worked hard last week and did their part in the game. It feels great to win a game like that.”
Teurlings did engineer another penalty assisted drive going 82 yards with Noah Harris running it in from a yard out. Kelley was stopped short on a two point conversion and the Rebs kicked it to Notre Dame with 6:16 to play.
From the Pios 13, Faulk managed two first downs, one on a fourth and one at the ND 33. After the Rebels used their remaining timeouts, the Pios had third and eleven at the 34.
It seems only fitting that Faulk would take it 42 yards around the right side for a first down and then run out the remaining time for the Pios win.
“I’m as proud as I can be of these guys,” summed up Cook. “Hopefully, this will be something that will compel us to keep going as a team, get ready week to week for what is coming up and allow us to understand what it takes to get prepared to play a lot of good teams.”
Notre Dame opens district play against Opelousas Catholic next week.