A dramatic loss in overtime to Vinton in Week 4 didn’t seem to put a damper on the Delcambre High School football team’s momentum as they shut out winless Highland Baptist 34-0 on Friday to move to 3-2 on the season.

Delcambre head coach Artie Liuzza said that the preparation for the game was focused on the work still left to do after the Vinton loss.

“We talked all week about unfinished business,” Liuzza said after the game. “It’s not really about our opponent, it’s about what we’re doing on the field. We had young guys in a new situation last week and we weren’t able to get it done, but I loved the way they practiced this week. We had to overcome some self-inflicted wounds here in this game and we were able to do that.”

The Panthers started slowly against Highland, scoring from a three-yard scramble by sophomore QB Rix Robin in the first quarter before adding a second touchdown off an 11-yard rush by junior RB Hugo Morales before halftime.

A pair of nine-yard runs by senior Genesis Tolentino doubled the Panthers’ lead in the third quarter. Nave Nguyen’s three-yard stroll into the endzone sealed the 34-0 win for Delcambre.

Nguyen (20-144 rushing, 1 TD) and Morales (25-124 rushing, 1 TD) led Delcambre’s offense, with Tolentino ending the night with 54 yards from seven carries and two touchdowns. QB Rix Robin went 2-for-4 for 19 yards through the air.

While the team as a whole continues to improve, one standout this season has been Hugo Morales. Liuzza said that the junior gets better each week and is quickly becoming a dangerous weapon for the Panthers offense.

“Hugo is becoming a workhorse for us and we’re becoming really confident in him,” he said. “It clicked for him in Week 10 of last year and we celebrated that on the sideline because it carried over this year.”

Delcambre’s defense has also been a bright spot for a team that went 0-10 last season. With shutout wins over Berchmans Academy (47-0) and Highland Baptist, plus a 34-14 victory over Class 4A Beau Chene in Week 3, the Panthers have become a difficult team to score on.

Against Highland, whose limited roster meant that star players were used in several different positions on both sides of the ball, Liuzza said his game plan was to focus on what his team needed to do to win.

“It’s really tough,’ Liuzza said of planning for a team with versatile players. “Luckily, with our offense, we’re based more on rules and things like that rather than on blocking man assignments, so that helped us out a little bit. We have to account for them both offensively and defensively. (Austin Stafford and Quintin Martin) are some great ballplayers. Defensively, we had a good game plan going in, we had a good week of practices and the defensive players and coaches did a great job of executing tonight. We gave up just a couple of big plays, so we did a good job on defense.”

With the second half of the season now upon them, Liuzza said his team is focused on doing what they need to do to secure a home berth for the playoffs.

“We just have to keep getting better every week,” he said. “We know that district is a gauntlet, so we need to get better every week and hopefully we’ll find ourselves hosting a first round playoff game.”

Before the Panthers can worry about the postseason, they will first need to host a hat trick of quality opponents in Loreauville, Catholic High, and West St. Mary.

Loreauville, currently winless following a 40-18 loss to Kaplan on Friday, is certainly a better team than the record would imply. Injuries and team policy violations left the Tigers without several key starters in both Week 4 and Week 5, but a healthy and reloaded Loreauville team will be looking to make a statement against the Panthers this week.

Delcambre’s challenges won’t get any easier the following weeks. After emphatic wins over Notre Dame and LCCP, Catholic High (4-1) now looks like the favorite to repeat as District 7-2A champions. After the CHS game, Delcambre will host a rejuvenated West St. Mary (3-1) team that lost for the first time this season to Jeanerette in Week 5. The Panthers will then close out the district schedule with road contests against Houma Christian and Franklin.

Carencro 18, New Iberia Senior High 0

The Yellow Jackets picked up another shutout loss in District 3-5A play on Friday, falling to Carencro (1-4) by a score of 18-0.

NISH, who suffered the loss of starting QB Kaiden McGlasson in Week 4 to injury, turned to Westgate transfer Peyton Landry for the battle with the Bears.

Landry (9-17 passing, 92 yards, 2 INTs) struggled to spark anything with the Yellow Jackets offense as senior RB Shanga Charles was held to just 38 all-purpose yards. Juniors Synjaya Hamilton (5-50 receiving) and Kayden St. Julien (13-81 rushing) were the statistical leaders for NISH.

The Yellow Jackets will host Sulphur (2-3) on Friday for the Yellow Jackets’ homecoming game. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.