Hanson quarterback Collin Faucheaux (9) looks over the Highland Baptist defense before running a play Thursday night. HBCS won the District 8-A contest 47-12.

FRANKLIN — After accumulating nearly 500 total yards in offense, scoring seven touchdowns, and winning by 35 points, most coaches would be elated with such an impressive victory. Highland Baptist Head Football Coach Rick Hutson, though happy for the 47-12 Thursday night District 8-A victory over Hanson, was not overly impressed with the Bears’ performance. 

“We really shot ourselves in the foot in the first half,” Hutson said. “We had one touchdown called back, we dropped two touchdowns, and we had two fumbles, one on the one-foot line going in for a touchdown.”

Hutson added that the decision to move the originally scheduled Friday night game to Thursday due to inclement weather wasn’t made until Wednesday and could have been a factor in his team’s first half sluggishness.  

“We got a little bit out of rhythm, but I’m not going to use that as an excuse,” said Hutson. “That doesn’t have anything to do with catching the football or holding on to the football.”

As the first half began, both teams had trouble holding on to the ball after swapping fumbles on their opening drives.  

The Bears were the first to strike, with Sadler Delahoussayse racing 29 yards to the endzone for his first touchdown. 

Parker Perry nailed the extra point and Highland led 7-0.

Following a good return by Hanson’s Braden Loustalot, the Tigers wasted little time answering with one of its own on a short run by Donald Foulcard.  

Neither team was able to get much going for the remainder of the first quarter and part of the second, as fumbles, dropped balls, a missed field goal, and penalties overshadowed good plays. 

The Bears finally broke through in the second quarter following QB Myles Liggans two long touchdown passes,  one to Cade Boudreaux for 44 yards and the other, a 57-yard throw to Keelan Preston.   

Parker made one PAT but the other was blocked as HBCS went into halftime with a 20-6 lead.

Hutson had high praise for the Tigers. 

“They never quit, and they kept making plays,” he said. “Every time I think well, we got them now and its going to be easy, well it wasn’t.”

Hanson’s inexperience showed when the Tigers failed to down Highland’s pooch kick to start the second half and the Bears recovered the ball. 

A short time later, Delahoussaye netted his second td of the night on a one-yard run. 

The Tigers hung tough after another long kick return by Loustalot and Donald Foulcard scored his second touchdown of the night as HMS cut hte lead to 26-12. 

Hanson recovered its own pooch kick but couldn’t put any points on the board. 

Liggans used his arm and legs to add two more scores for the Bears, and Luther Laughlin rounded out the scoring with a five-yard run.  

Hanson coach Chris Sanders said his team struggled in all facets of the game.  

“We didn’t play well and it’s frustrating when you don’t play well,” Sanders said. 

“We were really sloppy on offense, we put the ball on the ground way too much and we had a complete bust on a kickoff where we didn’t even look up at a sky kick.”  

Sanders added the way his team plays there isn’t much room for error, and there were way too many of them to win.  

The Hanson coach added the nail in the coffin for his team was a roughing a passer call against Donald Foulcard that Sanders believed was just a good hard-nosed play, but the referees saw it differently. 

That call cost the Tigers 30 yards as the coach was also tagged with a penalty. 

“When we got on the wrong side of that call the mountain was way too high to cross.” Sanders said.

Liggans completed 19-of-26 passes for 297 yards and 3 touchdowns and added 90 yards and a touchdown rushing for the Bears.  

Delahoussaye added 71 yards and two scores, while Boudreaux was the leading receiver with 116 yards and 2 tds. Preston added 95 yards and a touchdown on six catches

Donald Foulcard led Hanson with 145 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.

Eugene Foulcard led the HMS defense with five tackles and five assists.

Highland battles Central Catholic Friday while Hanson takes on rival Centerville.