Neither a near-miss hurricane nor sweltering afternoon heat could throw the New Iberia Senior High football team off the winning path as the Yellow Jackets scored their second win of the season, defeating the Franklin Senior High Hornets 42-6 on Saturday.

“I’m proud of our kids,” said NISH head coach Josh Lierman after the win. “Our kids and our coaches deserve this. We do things the right way and that’s something we preach to them. As long as we do things the right way, good things will happen. Against Pineville, we were down 16-0 and we came back and won that game. We played well enough to win today and, yeah there were mistakes, but that’s expected early in the year.”

The contest was a last-minute reschedule after NISH and Franklin’s original opponents, Central Lafourche and M.L. King Charter, both had to pull out due to the effects of Hurricane Francine. Lierman said the decision to play against Franklin was made late in the week, which gave them fewer days to prepare than normal, but the decision to keep a Week 2 game came down to the senior class.

“We heard from Central Lafourche on Friday around 2 p.m., but we had already spoken with Franklin and we had it just in case,” Lierman explained. “Coach Chad (Pourciau) and I had this happen to us when we were at Breaux Bridge. During COVID, we had one day to prepare for somebody, so we knew that you just do what you have to do. When Central Lafourche canceled I went into the team room and the seniors told me they wanted to play. It’s their senior year, so if they want to play, they’re going to play.”

It didn’t take NISH long to find the endzone on Saturday, scoring off a 12-yard QB keeper by senior Kaiden McGlasson on NISH’s second drive to take an early seven-point lead. Senior WR Cody Taylor scored the only points of the second quarter with a 6-yard pass from McGlasson.

Junior wideout Synjaya Hamilton scored twice in the second half, first from an 11-yard pass in the third quarter and again in the fourth via a 24-yard pass, both from McGlasson. Senior Shanga Charles and junior Kayden St. Julien both scored off 4-yard runs to seal the victory.

“Our offensive line did a great job. I don’t know how much Shanga rushed for, but it had to be quite a bit,” Lierman said. “Defensively, (Franklin) didn’t score, so that’s a testament to our kids because they listened to what we told them and executed it. Deantre Jackson now has three picks in two games, so we’re going to continue to get better.”

McGlasson went 7-for-12 for 76 yards and three touchdowns through the air against the Hornets, with 12 more yards and another touchdown coming on the ground. Senior running back Shanga Charles racked up 216 yards from 26 carries and one touchdown, while 2026 WR Synjaya Hamilton ended the night with 48 receiving yards from four receptions and two touchdowns.

Linebackers Dakota Alexander and Connor Stewart combined for 10 tackles. Alexander also ended the game with one interception, while Deantre Jackson finished with two and sophomore Dion Conley had one fumble recovery.

The win moved the Yellow Jackets to 2-0 on the season following a 34-25 win over Pineville in Week 1. NISH hasn’t had a 2-0 start to a season since 2020, when the team made it to the second round of the Class 5A playoffs before being eliminated by Zachary.

This year, the road to a postseason appearance will go through one of the toughest district schedules in the state. For Lierman and his team, the goal is to continue to improve with each game.

“We expect to get better every week. Next week at Comeaux we want to be better than we were this week,” he said. “Hopefully that means winning, but even if it doesn’t you have to be as good as we can because we have Acadiana in Week 4.”

The Yellow Jackets will travel to Lafayette in Week 3 to face off against former District 3-5A rivals Ovey Comeaux (0-2). Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.