Weather delays aside, West St. Mary pulls away late to beat Jeanerette

Published 11:30 pm Saturday, October 5, 2019

JEANERETTE — The closer it got to midnight, the more West St. Mary High School’s offense took on a new identity and morphed into a running Wolfpack.

That was by design, WSM head coach Cliff Armelin said Friday night after the Wolfpack passed, then ran, over Jeanerette’s Tigers at Tiger Stadium. When the clock struck midnight after the lightning-delayed game, Armelin was confident the balanced offense slipper would fit WSM, which improved to 2-3 halfway through 2019.

Sure, senior quarterback Taylum Druilhet threw three touchdown passes to three different receivers while completing 13 of 26 passes for 241 yards in the 26-12 victory over Jeanerette. And, sure, it took a while, but the visitor’s ballcarriers, namely sophomore running back Jhoilon Harris, began carving up the Tigers’ “D.”

“That’s one of the things I’ve been harping on all season. Passing is our strength. But we had to find a running game,” Armelin said. “Jhoilon Harris found his game running the ball. I think we showed tonight we can run it.”

Harris rushed for 111 yards on 18 carries, 10 times for 66 yards in the second half as WSM let the air out of the ball to run the clock and keep it away from Tigers’ quarterback Noah Rollins, a senior.

Ah, the clock. Well, real time. At 7:33 p.m., lightning strikes prompted a lengthy delay in the game at 0:44 mark in the first quarter. After players were hustled off the field, and fans cleared the stadium seats, the first quarter finally resumed at 9:05 p.m.

Jeanerette, which slipped to 2-3, fell behind 18-6 at the half but stayed right on the Wolfpack’s heels. The Tigers made it a one-score game when they cut the deficit to 18-12 on a 10-yard run by Ka’Rel Sparrow with 5:53 remaining in the third quarter.

West St. Mary regained some breathing room two minutes and 40 seconds later when senior wideout Cobe Phillips hauled in a 58-yard scoring pass from Druilhet to make it 26-12.

That Druilhet launched some dimes was appreciated by Armelin.

“Yes, he did. Personally, I think he’s one of the best passing quarterbacks in the area, if not the best,” WSM’s head coach said. “Everything goes through him. He is an honor roll student. He is a great signal caller.”

Armelin won’t get an argument from Tigers head coach Clifford Paul, who said about Druilhet, “He’s a helluva quarterback. He made some great throws tonight. I think he can play in college. He makes their offense go. He makes great reads and great throws.”

Paul was confident his team, dominated by underclassmen, would bounce back from the loss to a rival. How young? He started three freshmen, a sophomore and an eighth-grader on the offensive line, he said, and three frosh started in the defensive backfield.

That isn’t an excuse, he emphasized.

“In a game against West St. Mary, a rival that throws the ball like that, that’s a factor in the game,” he said, adding that of 42 players on the roster, only seven played football last season.

“It’s a learning experience for us. We’ve got a bunch of young kids who’ve got to learn how to compete. Our inexperience showed tonight,” he said. “What I’m excited about it we have a majority of the team back for the next three years. We may take our lumps now but it’ll pay off in the future.”

The Wolfpack offense sputtered on its first series of the game but cranked it up and scored on Druilhet’s 3-yard run at 6:29. A 29-yard pass to Phillips to the JHS 6 highlighted the drive.

West St. Mary scored again on its next possession on A’Zhylon Brown’s 5-yard touchdown catch on a pass from Druilhet. It put the visitors ahead, 12-0.

The hometown crowd came to life midway through the second quarter when Rollins tossed short left to Sparrow, who turned it into a 50-yard scoring pass to narrow the gap to 12-6 with 7:22 to play before halftime.

But Druilhet answered with less than two minutes to play before the half. He fired an 18-yard scoring pass to sophomore wide receiver Gerald Druilhet to pad his team’s lead to 18-6.

Rollins finished 13-for-21 for 148 yards, a TD and one interception.

“I think this might have been his best game of the season. But it got kind of rough on him at the end,” Paul said.

Jeanerette’s rushing attack was led by Ja’Raeil Harris, a junior who gained 44 yards on eight carries.

The Tigers return to action Thursday at Houma Christian. West St. Mary’s rivalry game at home against Franklin has been moved to Thursday.