LAFAYETTE — Ryan Melancon headed in a beautiful half-volley by Colby Delahoussaye for the lone goal of the game and New Iberia Senior High captured a 1-0 shutout win over fourth-ranked St. Thomas More in a district soccer game Tuesday night at STM.

NISH coach Kevin Hardy said Delahoussaye sent a half volley into the penalty box, and Melancon, one of several Yellow Jackets with an opportunity at the ball, sent it into the goal at about the 30-minute mark of the first half.

“It was a beautiful, beautiful play,” Hardy said. “That was hard, what Colby did.”

It was especially timely because it was one of the few scoring opportunities New Iberia had in the first half, said the coach. NISH opened the game in a 4-5-1, defensive-oriented alignment in an effort to survive the first 10 minutes against a strong Cougars offense without allowing a goal.

“We stayed in it a lot longer than 10 minutes,” said Hardy. “We were playing pretty well, and even getting a few offensive opportunities out of it.”

NISH went to a more offensive-oriented 4-4-2 set in the second half, but that didn’t work well and the Jackets switched back to the 4-5-1, said Hardy.

“I wouldn’t say it worked perfectly,” said the coach. “They still had a massive number of scoring opportunities. But it worked well enough.”

New Iberia had a few scoring chances in the second half, probably better chances than STM did, said Hardy, but neither team could find the net.

“Jacques Bourque played tremendously well in goal,” said Hardy. “He’s never played goal before (this season). As well as Brett Viator, my sweeper. He played the best game of his life. It took performances like that for us to get the win.”

Hardy believes STM is the highest-ranked team the Jackets have ever beaten.

NISH improved to 14-7-2 overall and 4-1 in district, while handing the Cougars their first district loss. New Iberia plays host to district rival Comeaux on Friday.

CHS 8, North Vermilion 1

Grant Quinlan had a hat trick and Blaise Guidry had two goals as Catholic High beat North Vermilion 8-1 Saturday in a district soccer match.

Phillip Mixon, Ramsey Breaux and J.T. Gibson each had a goal for the Panthers, who improved to a perfect 4-0 in Division III, District 4 after the first round of district play and 14-3-4 overall.

Quinland had his first goal in the 12th minute as he caught a throw in from Gibson and beat the North Vermilion goalie one on one. Mixon scored 10 minutes later on a off of a pass from Guidry, who added his own goal four minutes after that off of a pass from Gibson.

“The beginning of the game we played a little tight as a team and acted as if we needed to score within the beginning minutes,” said CHS coach Brandon Francis. “Yes, you would like to, but I try to make the boys understand how much time a soccer game is.

“Patience, the goals will come once you break down defenses by countering their weaknesses.”

Quinland added two more goals in the second half, one from 10 yards out and the other from eight yards out. Guidry found the back of the net from five yards out, and Gibson beat the North Vermilion goalie one-on-one from 14 yards out and Breaux scored on a penalty kick.

North Vermilion scored its only goal of the game on penalty kick in the 48th minute.

“One penalty kick inside of a playoff match can make or break you,” said Francis. “Its simply a different atmosphere and I believe we better start to realize that.

“The PK given is not acceptable no matter how aggravated with the opposition we may be. We will be sure that we learn from that mistake.”

Catholic High School plays host to Abbeville on Saturday.