Acadiana too much for NISH

Published 12:30 am Sunday, September 23, 2018

Special teams and defense kept New Iberia Senior High School in its District 3-5A opener against fifth-ranked Acadiana High School for most of the game Friday, but the Yellow Jackets couldn’t put together enough offense to pull the upset.

NISH blocked two extra points, kept the Rams’ explosive returners from doing any damage with an efficient punt game and even forced a fumble recovered by the Jackets on special teams, and the defense limited Acadiana’s big plays for most of the night while forcing and recovering a couple of fumbles and making an interception.

“That’s one thing we hadn’t been as good at as we wanted to be, and we got four turnovers tonight,” Yellow Jackets coach Rick Hutson said. “I told everybody, for us to win the ballgame we’ve got to be consistent on offense and get some first downs, and we didn’t do enough of that tonight, and we’ve got to get some turnovers, and we did to that.

“(The loss was) disappointing tonight. I thought last week we squandered a great defensive effort. Better team tonight — Acadiana’s a very good team, and for us to hang in there until the very end of the fourth quarter, I’m really proud of our players. Not happy with the loss, but real happy of the effort that we got this week and hopefully we can come back with that same attitude next week.”

New Iberia’s inability to consistently move the ball or convert short-yardage plays was costly. NISH got its lone touchdown after heavy pressure forced a four-yard punt that went out of bounds at the Acadiana 18. Eventually the Rams got their ground game working to outgain NISH 312-72 rushing and 413-173 overall.

“I thought we played well nearly everywhere tonight except offensively, once again we struggled with short-yardage situations, we struggle when we have opportunities,” Hutson said. “We did make more good plays on offense tonight than we’ve had in any game so far this season, which is progress, but we’ve just got to keep working at it, and hopefully we’ll get better next week and the week after and hopefully it’s not too long before we start winning some ballgames.

“I think by the end of the season we could have a good team as long as we keep making progress like we’ve done so far.”

Though the Rams (4-0 overall, 1-0 district) converted their first drive into a touchdown on a one-yard carry by Dillon Monette with 6:08 to go, the PAT was a sign of things to come as Landon Guidry barely got the point-after over the crossbar under heavy pressure. A pass completion on fourth-and-seven kept the drive going to set up the short TD run.

Acadiana didn’t score again until almost midway through the second quarter when Jeremiah Brooks broke loose for a 25-yard TD run through a big hole. Ja’Braylon Spencer blocked the ensuing point-after kick to keep it a 13-0 game.

After a NISH punt, the Yellow Jackets (0-4, 0-1) held Acadiana to two yards in three plays to force a punt from the 14, and under heavy pressure the ball was shanked out of bounds at the 18. 

After a pair of runs lost seven yards, quarterback Michael Akins threw into the end zone for Cameron Blake, who caught the ball after an Acadiana defender deflected it into the air. 

The carom and catch for 24 yards and the point-after kick by Seth Landry pulled NISH to within 13-7 with 2:43 to go in the half.

“Mike made some really nice throws tonight, and then at other times, he’s making sophomore mistakes,” Hutson said. 

“I wish I could speed up the maturation process but there’s just some things you can only learn by doing. He’ll get better. He’ll play better next week. And I’ve got to do a better job of preparing him week by week than I’m doing right now.”

Akins finished with 101 yards passing and one interception late in the game.

The Rams coughed up the ball on their first play of the second half with Kylynd Lee recovering for the second time in the game after also having pounced on the first AHS fumble. NISH couldn’t convert on a fourth-down pass after a heavy hit jarred the ball loose from the receiver, and Acadiana marched to the New Iberia 27 before again fumbling, with Quintin Cook recovering this time for New Iberia.

Larryll Greene gave Acadiana some breathing room late in the third quarter when he broke free for a 49-yard scoring run almost untouched by defenders. 

The 2-point pass from Keontae Williams to John Staten made it 21-7 with 59.8 seconds to go in the period.

NISH reached the Acadiana 18 on its next possession thanks to Akins passes of 15 yards to Chavis Archangel, 15 yards to Braylon Willis and 17 yards to Markell Linzer but a fourth-down pass was good for only one yard to stop the drive and set up a final scoring drive by the Rams.

Though a 66-yard scoring run by Monette was negated by a holding penalty, a 46-yard pass to Greene brought the ball to the NISH 20, and five plays later, after another holding penalty, Greene scored from the 19 to salt the game away. The attempt for 2 on a broken play failed.

Monette finished with 111 yards on 20 carries, Brooks had 96 on 16 runs and Greene had 92 yards on seven rushes.

Archangel led the Yellow Jackets with 55 yards on nine carries.

Hutson said the Jackets will pick up again Monday looking for a win this coming week at LaGrange (0-4, 0-1).

“Whether you win or you lose on Friday, on Monday you’ve got to have the same attitude,” Hutson said. “I know it’s frustrating starting out 0-4, but we’ll get there.”