Panthers look to sew up playoff spot with big win over HCA

Published 9:30 am Friday, November 20, 2020

DELCAMBRE — Heading into Wednesday night’s regular season finale against Houma Christian, Delcambre coach Artie Liuzza had two concerns.

The first was to get the game played because of all the concerns about COVID and the possibility of the game being canceled.

The second was to see his team play well and get a win to solidify the Panthers’ playoff possibilities.

According to Geauxpreps.com. Delcambre was 30th in the Class 2A power rankings, and a win over the Warriors would almost guarantee Delcambre a spot in the playoffs next week.

“We knew it was an important game,” Liuzza said. “But more than anything, we wanted the kids to have a good game and play well regardless of what happened.”

After giving up a touchdown pass to Houma Christian on the Wartriors’ first possesion, Delcambre rolled to a 54-13 District 7-2A win and finished the regular season with a 2-5 record overall, 1-5 in district.

“Now we get one more week to work with these players,” Liuzza said. “The team goal this year was to make the playoffs and it looks like we will. They really worked hard this year and all that work paid off and they saw that it paid off not only tonight but also by getting a chance to play next week as well.”

All six of Delcambre’s senior skill players scored a touchdown in the win. Jamian Guy rushed for 59 yards and three touchdowns, Kalob Moneaux ran for a score and threw a touchdown pass and Noah Broussard, Miguel Hernandez, Hayden Frecerick and Noah Gary also got into the end zone.

The win, while necessary and important, was almost secondary to Liuzza after his team showed the heart and desire and good play against Houma Christian.

“We had been playing well all year,,” Liuzza said. “But it never really paid off with a win. Tonight, the kids had the same heart and desire and good play but it showed up on the scoreboard as well. That was very important to me, the coaching staff and the players as well.”

After spotting Houma Christian the early 7-0 lead, Delcambre responded with 20 points in the first quarter and 20 more in the second quarter as the Panthers built a 40-7 lead at the break.

Not only did the offense do its part, the Delcambre defense got in some solid play as well, making four interceptions and holding the Warriors to 13 points and less than 150 yards of offense, about a third of which came on two touchdown passes.

“We made a couple of mistakes in coverage early but we were able to correct that and shut them down the rest of the night,” Liuzza said. “Offensively, we were able to move the ball and get the ball into the end zone.

Guy had touchdown runs of seven, 13 and 30 yards; Moneaux had a touchdown run of two yards and a touchdown pass to Frederick covering 22 yards, Broussard had a 15-yard touchdown run, Hernandez added a three-yard touchdown run and Gary had a 78-yard yard scoring run.

“It was good to see all of them score, especially in the last home game of the season,” Liuzza said.

Now the Panthers wait to see who they will play in the playoffs next week when the pairings are released Sunday.

“It’s the playoffs now,” Liuza said. “Everybody is 0-0 and we have as good a chance as anyone else in the postseason.”