ST. MARTINVILLE – Halfway through the first quarter of Friday’s Notre Dame at St. Martinville non-district matchup, both teams’ offenses looked unstoppable.

In the first 7:02 of the quarter, the Pioneers and Tigers each scored on their first two possessions to even the score at 14-14.

Notre Dame, however, scored three unanswered touchdowns in a 35-14 win over the Tigers to improve the Pioneers to 2-0 on the season.

“We ran into a buzzsaw,” SMSH coach Vincent DeRouen said. “A great team. They took it to us and ran it down our throats.

“They played keep away with a ball control offense where we didn’t get the ball that much. We got down there (in Notre Dame territory) a couple of times and didn’t do anything with it.”

Indeed, the Pioneers held a 33:02 to 14:58 advantage in time of possession thanks to an offense that produced 27 first downs and 525 yards.

Notre Dame ran 71 plays compared to 33 for SMSH, which finished with 309 yards of total offense.

The Tigers (0-2) gained 233 of those yards in the first half with touchdowns from tailback Steven Blanco (45-yard run) and Harvey Broussard, who caught a 47-yard scoring strike from quarterback Kaden Zenon.

“I don’t think they did anything differently,” DeRouen said of Notre Dame’s second-half defensive effort. “They play hard. They play tough. We just didn’t make the plays.”

Trailing 21-14 at the half, SMSH had two chances to knot the score in the third quarter, but the Pioneers turned the Tigers away on fourth down each time.

“We went for it on fourth down a couple of times, which didn’t work out for us,” DeRouen said. “We were rolling pretty good early and then just fizzled away. The (lack of) blocking had a lot to do with it, too. We weren’t able to hold up (physically) late in the game.”

Zenon completed his first five passes for 156 yards – all to Broussard – but was limited to one completion in the second half.

“We had to start chunking it when we got behind, and they knew it,” DeRouen said. “They have a great defense and a great team. We just didn’t make the plays.”

Blanco rushed for 149 yards on 13 carries. Jake Brouillette ran for 158 yards on 21 attempts with four touchdowns for Notre Dame.

“We didn’t tackle as well as I thought we would,” DeRouen said. “We had them stopped short a couple of times, and their backs were able to carry (our defenders on their back) the rest of the way for a first down.”

“I was scared to death coming in here,” Pioneers coach Lewis Cook said. “I made a comment that I didn’t know if we were going to be able to stay in this track meet.

“(St. Martinville’s explosiveness) showed right at the beginning. Blanco breaks a big run. Harvey catches it over the top. I wasn’t sure if we could hold them down, but we got adjusted to their speed and started controlling the front a little better.”