Both Westgate High School and Loreauville High School had to play better in the second half of their Friday night football games after being challenged by district opponents in the first half.

Both teams did so, with Westgate coming back from a 2-point halftime deficit to claim a 33-26 win over Teurlings Catholic in a District 5-4A game, and Loreauville capturing a 34-12 win over District 7-2A rival West St. Mary after leading only 7-6 at halftime.

In other games featuring Teche Area teams Friday, New Iberia was edged by District 3-5A rival Comeaux, 30-28, and Catholic High fell to Notre Dame 41-0 in a non-district game.

Westgate 33, Teurlings Catholic 26

Westgate (6-2 overall, 2-0 district) handed Teurlings a loss on homecoming loss after coming out in the second half and taking advantage of some matchups they noticed in the first half that favored them.

“Big win,” WHS coach Ryan Antoine said. “We did a good job. I’m definitely proud of our guys coming away with the victory.”

After a defensive battle in the first half, Derek Williams returned a kickoff just before halftime to pull Westgate to within 9-7.

“We weren’t doing well offensively, but come halftime we were able to make some adjustments and were able to see some things that we felt would work well for us.”

Jordan Doucet ran for a couple of touchdowns and threw two touchdowns to Dedrick Latulas up the seam, all in the second half. Steven Antoine also ran well, the coach said.

“We took the opening kickoff back from the half, and they called it back,” the coach said. “I’m still trying to figure out that call is, to be honest with you. But I feel like we just came out and calmed our nerves. We knew they would come out there swinging. We had to withstand that wave, and we did, and I felt we did a good job of responding and being ready.”

Some of the formations the Tigers had gave them favorable matchups, and they worked out in the second half.

“Our coaches do a good job of putting our guys in one-on-one situations where they can go out there and make plays, and our guys, we expect them to go out there and do it,” Antoine said. “They trust us to be able to do it. Jordan, Dedrick, Steve, they did a good job of exploiting the matchups with the ball in their hand.”

Westgate’s defense forced two fumbles in the second half, which was huge, Antoine said.

“They withstood the test of a strong offensive scheme that they run, and we got the turnovers, which definitely helped us offensively with our momentum,” he said. “Our offensive line’s been playing real well the last three, four weeks for sure. It was a close ballgame with three or four minutes left in the game and we were able to go out there and run the ball and get a touchdown that won it for us.”

TCHS fell to 5-3 overall with its third straight loss, all to district teams — Carencro, St. Thomas More and Westgate.

The Tigers play host to Northside this week for homecoming. Antoine said the homecoming activities are for the student body and alumni returning to reunite, while the team must focus on taking care of business and putting the team in better position for the playoffs.

Loreauville 34, West St. Mary 12

West St. Mary methodically moved the ball down the field at four or five yards a pop on its opening possession to take a 6-0 lead and held that until Calep Jacob’s 17-yard TD run in the second quarter gave the Tigers a 7-6 lead at halftime with the Logan Templet point-after kick.

Though his team is unbeaten at 8-0 overall and 4-0 in district, LHS coach Terry Martin said the Tigers struggled against WSM in Baldwin.

“It’s almost like the last couple of weeks we’ve regressed on both sides of the ball,” Martin said. “I’m not sure if it’s just the kids getting up for what they think are bigger games. But again, we aren’t that good to where we can just show up and win. The kids that have played for the last two years have been pretty successful.

“We still in the first half last night we didn’t play well, not at all, on either side of the ball. We tried to tell the kids all week that we thought that West St. Mary’s four guys on the defensive line all had good size and looked like they were very strong. A couple of them play with really great technique. People had trouble blocking them. I don’t know if they believe me or not, but we struggled to run the ball, and they put a lot of pressure on us. We struggled to pass protect.”

Loreauville played better in the second half, mainly cleaning up mistakes that included a fumble and an interception and some missed pass opportunities, the coach said.

“At halftime, thankfully we kind of woke up a little bit, and then started to play a little bit better and were able to put some points on the board,” Martin said. “But again, they were a very athletic team. They had two or three guys that we were really worried about. Hopefully now our kids have figured out we can’t just show up and win.”

Jacob ended up with 92 yards and a touchdown in the air and 157 yards and three TDs rushing on the night.

“In the second half we just played cleaner,” Martin said. “It wasn’t really much adjustment at all. They came out in exactly the defense we expected them to be in.

“In the second half we just picked it up a little bit better. Calep made better reads in the second half. But it really wasn’t, again, any type of big adjustments, we just played better.”

Collin Jacob led Loreauville with six catches for 34 yards and a TD. Evan Simon ran for 57 yards and Ethan Simon had 32 yards and a touchdown that wrapped up the scoring.

WSM quarterback Kayshawn Pierre threw for 107 yards and a TD and ran for 52 yards and a touchdown. Jhoilon Harris led the Wolfpack with 59 yards on the ground and had four catches for 38 yards.

“Like I said before the game, they had an extremely athletic quarterback,” Martin said. “Big kid, strong, and could throw it a mile. He threw the ball pretty well at times last night.”

The Tigers will return home this week in the district game of the year against Ascension Episcopal, which is 6-2 overall and 4-0 in district.

“I’m kind of hoping this week they realize that if we play like that, like we did this past week, or if we start off as slowly as we did the first half, we’ll get embarrassed,” Martin said. “Not only do they have some talented kids, but I’ve said this since I’ve been in this district, one of the best-coached teams that we face every year. Just extremely fundamental. Their kids are very disciplined. They have what I feel is one of the better coaching staffs in our area, regardless of the class.”

Martin said seeing some of the film of AES against common opponents with Loreauville should be an eye-opener for the Tigers. Loreauville has been making mistakes of late they hadn’t made all year, he said. Martin hopes the team’s focus is better this week.

“I’m hoping that they do realize that we’re going to have to have a really good week of preparation,” he said. “Regardless of the record of each team, regardless of the ranking of each team, in my mind when I look at it, I would think that (Ascension Episcopal would) be the favored team to win. I’m hoping that (the players) can pick up on that and can be serious about our preparation.”

Comeaux 30, New Iberia 28

Comeaux held off New Iberia in a back-and-forth battle in Lafayette to keep the Yellow Jackets winless.

The Spartans got 253 yards and two touchdowns in the air from quarterback Sean Malveaux, who was 14-for-33 on the night.

New Iberia relied on its rushing game with 255 yards on the ground, led by Cedric Moore’s 110 yards on 17 carries. Moore had a TD carry, as did Courtland Blake (55 yards), Christain Thomas (57 yards) and Allen Hamilton (43 yards). The Yellow Jackets lost three of four fumbles, however, and did not complete a pass.

NISH (0-8 overall, 0-5 district) travels to Sulphur on Friday. Comeaux (4-4, 3-2) travels to Southside.

Notre Dame 41, Catholic High 0

After a scoreless first quarter, Notre Dame got two touchdowns in the second quarter, three in the third and one in the fourth to pull away from the Panthers in a non-district game Friday.

KK Reno led the Panthers with 44 yards on 11 carries and Marco Austin had 22 yards on 11 runs. CHS did not complete a pass in two attempts.

Catholic High (3-5 overall, 1-3 district) plays at Jeanerette (0-8, 0-4) on Friday.