Defenses dominated most of the night at the Iberia Parish Sugar Cane Jamboree, which saw Highland Baptist score on two big plays to beat Delcambre 13-0, Loreauville hold off Jeanerette 8-0 and New Iberia and Westgate play to an 8-all tie.

Games were shortened to two 10-minute halves with a five-minute, on-field halftime in an effort to beat forecast heavy rains. Players of the Game were chosen by the press box staff, with the honors sponsored by The Daily Iberian and Community First Bank.

The regular season opens this week with Jeanerette at Hanson and West St. Mary at Opelousas on Thursday, and Highland traveling to Houma Christian, Delcambre playing host to Berwick, Loreauville playing host to Central Catholic, New Iberia playing host to Breaux Bridge and Westgate traveling to Carencro, all on Friday.

HBCS 13, Delcambre 0

Delcambre dominated possession of the ball, running 26 plays to 15 from Highland — seven of them coming in a final drive to run out the clock — but the Bears got a 51-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the first half and a 60-yard scoring run early in the second half to win.

Brody Griffin caught a pass from Highland quarterback Logan Jordan at the 20 and went untouched for the TD after a Delcambre safety tried for the interception but was outfought for the ball, giving HBCS a 6-0 halftime lead.

Two plays into the second half, Brontre Griffin broke loose for 60 yards to put the game out of reach and the point-after made it 13-0.

Brontre Griffin (105 yards on seven carries) and Delcambre running back Bubba Latiolais, who rushed for a team-high 46 yards, were named Players of the Game.

Delcambre twice reached Highland’s 16-yard line but turned the ball over on downs the first time and on a fumble the second time. The Panthers drove from their own 30 to the HBCS 16 on their first possession of the game before an incomplete fourth-down pass ended the 10-play series.

On Delcambre’s first possession of the second half, the Panthers marched from their 26 to the Highland 16 before a fumble was recovered by the Bears. A fumble three plays earlier had been ruled dead by referees.

Loreauville 8, Jeanerette 0

Shae’ahn Lee scored midway through the first half and got a safety midway through the second half, then held on as Jeanerette got inside the Loreauville 20 with just over two minutes remaining.

JSH quarterback Tyrese Batiste, who alternated with Jacalix Lundy, rambled for 36 yards to the LHS 19 at the 2:26 mark but lost 13 yards on two runs and threw two incomplete passes to turn the ball over on downs.

LHS took advantage of a short punt to drive 67 yards on their initial possession of the game, with Lee scoring from three yards out with 5:43 to go in the first half. The point-after try was wide left, leaving the score at 6-0.

JSH stayed in the game thanks to four recoveries of Loreauville’s six fumbles, one of which came on a punt. One of those fumbles ended a drive at the Jeanerette 23 and another at the JSH 7.

That last fumble actually gave Loreauville some breathing room as Batiste was sacked in the end zone on the next play for a safety that gave LHS an 8-0 lead.

Loreauville’s next fumble nearly gave Jeanerette a chance to tie the game after Batiste ran for 36 yards to the Loreauville 19 three plays after the turnover. JSH couldn’t advance the ball from there and turned it over on downs to allow LHS to run out the final 1:19.

Jeanerette receiver Dillon Lively and Loreauville’s Lee were Players of the Game.

Westgate 8, NISH 8

After a scoreless first half, New Iberia took advantage of a muffed kickoff to open the second half with a short scoring drive, but Westgate got a big run on the first play after the ensuing kickoff to roar right back to tie the game.

The line-drive kick by Austin Stoltz bounced of two Westgate players and was covered by NISH’s David Lewis to set up a five-play, 33-yard scoring drive.

Xavier Berard, who had 53 rushing yards to lead NISH, scored on an eight-yard run and fullback Regan Kidder carried in for the 2-point conversion to make it 8-0 with 7:35 remaining.

On the ensuing kickoff, Jalen Briscoe fell on the ball at its 33 to set up the Tigers’ scoring drive.

Jhamad Allen ran for 49 yards on the next snap, with a half-the-distance penalty tacked on at the end, to set up a three-play scoring drive. Allen ran it in from eight yards out and kept for the 2-point conversion with 6:24 to go in the game.

Neither team scored again.

New Iberia had a chance to get the ball in great field position a couple of series later when a Westgate punt traveled only 12 yards to the WHS 39, but a NISH player tried to jump on the ball and Westgate recovered.

The Tigers, conversely, missed their own prime scoring opportunity after a first-half punt snap sailed over the head of the kicker, resulting in a net 3-yard punt to the NISH 46. Westgate fumbled the ball away two snaps later.

NISH lost one of two fumbles and Westgate lost two of three for the night.

“We had a snap issue on the first punt, then we had a big mental mistake on trying to go for the ball that was already ours, and that’s a situation that we’ve already covered, but obviously we haven’t covered it enough, because if we had it wouldn’t have happened in the game,” NISH coach Rick Hutson said.

Both coaches said there’s plenty to work on for the season opener.

“There’s still a lot of little things we need to work on,” WHS coach Ryan Antoine said. “We lined up well and came to the ball. When NISH scored that first touchdown I was a little worried my guys might fold, but they came right back.”

“I always say this is a glorified scrimmage,” Hutson said. “I was really happy to get it in, because about four o’clock this afternoon it was not looking very promising (because of the weather).”

Hutson said his offensive line blocked better than it had in the scrimmage a week earlier, and Berard ran hard before being pulled to give Aaron Bean more carries.

Antoine said the Tigers must work hard this week to prepare for the season opener at Carencro.

“It’s a tough opponent, especially playing at Carencro,” he said. “That’s a hard plays to play.”