LOREAUVILLE – The Loreauville football team knows a little something about adversity.

The Tigers started the season with four consecutive losses, the worst start since 2018’s 1-9 season, and were constantly forced to play without key starters through both injury and off-field dramatics. 

On Thursday night, Loreauville put all the distractions behind them to notch a 40-20 win over West St. Mary, with their sights set on making waves in the postseason. 

“Obviously, I would have preferred (the season) to go better, but sometimes you have to go through more adversity than you’d like to,” said head coach Terry Martin after the game. “We had our share this year, but that’s a good reflection of how things go in life. A lot of times, no matter how much you tell teenagers things, they have to learn it on their own. This particular group had to go through some things but they’ve gotten better in some areas, so we’ll watch the film from tonight and see what we need to fix and what we did right and hopefully get a decent draw in the playoffs.”

Junior Blake Delcambre opened the scoring for the Tigers, outlasting several West St. Mary defenders around the right hand side to squeeze into the endzone after a 15-yard run. Senior WR Kylon Polk hauled in a 29-yard pass from QB Hayden Benoit to increase the lead to 14 points in the opening quarter. 

Senior RB Maddox Savoy scored twice in the second quarter, both times from two yards out. Eli Theodile scored the Tigers’ third of the quarter, a 33-yard touchdown reception from Benoit. 

Delcambre scored his second of the night, a 45-yard pass from Benoit, with just over seven minutes remaining in the third quarter. West St. Mary scored three times in the fourth quarter against Loreauville’s second team, but it wasn’t enough to challenge the lead. 

Benoit completed eight of 11 passes for 176 yards and three touchdowns against the Wolfpack. Maddox Savoy proved yet again to be crucial to the Tigers’ offense, rushing for 91 yards from 17 carries for two touchdowns. Blake Delcambre combined for 100 yards off four rushes and two receptions, scoring two touchdowns. Gavin Judice (3-56, Eli Theodile (2-42, 1 TD) and Kylon Polk (2-39, 1 TD) rounded out the Loreauville receiving corps. Junior Quintin Taylor ended the game with two interceptions. 

The win moved Loreauville to 4-5 on the season, a far cry from the expectations many fans had for the season. Martin seems less focused on the records now, especially with the playoff brackets set to be released on Sunday. 

“The very first year that I was calling plays in Breaux Bridge as an assistant was 1995 and we started the season 1-4,” Martin said. “We ended up getting on a roll and winning some games to get a 5-5 record and we ended up going to the semifinals. I’m not predicting that it will happen over here, but I’ve seen good things happen if you fall in the right spot. We don’t have too many injuries, so we’re going to try to fix what we need to fix and get a good draw.”

Loreauville retained its No. 15 spot in the Non-Select Division III power ratings with the win. The Tigers will likely host either Avoyelles, Marksville or Donaldsonville, depending on how Friday night’s games shake out. 

As the No. 15 seed, a second round matchup against No. 2 is guaranteed. Currently that spot is occupied by St. James (7-2), who defeated Loreauville 41-14 in the second round of the 2022 playoffs. 

For Martin, there is still a possibility that the Tigers can make a deep run in the playoffs and accomplish some of the goals the team set for the year. 

“We know that we’re going to have a home game and, if you get the right draw in the second round, you never know what can happen,” he said. “A lot of the things that they talked about trying to accomplish this year can still be done. I know that when you get to this point, it’s all about showing up and surviving. We’ll know for sure who we’re playing on Sunday and we’ll get to work.”

“Maybe this team can do something that nobody is expecting. You never know.”