Highland quarterback Myles Liggans (3) tries to avoid Loreauville’s Bryan Patout (21) during the jamboree.

BY CHRIS LANDRY

The Daily Iberian

 

Two shutouts and a near shutout highlighted the Iberia Parish Sugar Cane Jamboree held Friday night, with Loreauville and Westgate shutting out their parish rivals and Jeanerette actually scoring all the points in a 19-2 win as a safety accounted for the only points the Tigers gave up.

Westgate High School got three touchdowns from wide receiver Kayshon Boutte on two long pass receptions and a short run, and the Tigers held New Iberia Senior High to 123 total yards and no touchdowns in a 27-0 win to finish the night off.

Jeanerette beat Delcambre in the opener behind a running game that picked up 152 yards and a defense that limited the Panthers to 26 total yards.

In the second game, Loreauville ran for 273 yards and had a 73-yard scoring pass in the opening minutes on the way to a 28-0 win over host Highland Baptist.

 

Westgate 27,

New Iberia 0

In Friday’s finale at NISH, Westgate turned away a late threat to complete the shutout, prompting head coach Ryan Antoine to ask defensive coordinator Ryan Stewart to comment on the win.

“Our kids always strive for that (a shutout), that’s what we shoot for,” Stewart said. “It’s a jamboree; we just want to do our base stuff and get better at what we do.

“We gave up a long drive. We bent but didn’t break, that’s kind of how we’re going to play defense the entire year.”

Boutte caught a 62-yard scoring pass from Mar’keyvrick Eddie with 10:11 to go in the opening half and then a 42-yarder from Eddie with 3:20 to go as the Tigers built a 14-0 halftime lead.

“They struck quick and we weren’t able to answer those plays,” NISH coach Rick Hutson said. “Boutte’s a special player. Those (big plays) also kind of psychologically get to you, and that’ll be another thing we address with our guys because you can’t let that sort of thing snowball like we did tonight.”

The WHS defense gave up some yardage to NISH but the Yellow Jackets couldn’t consistently move the ball in the opening half.

Hutson said his team needs to stay ahead of schedule at this point. 

“We moved the ball a little bit and then we’d have a negative yardage play, either a bad snap or a blown protection or something like that,” he said. “Right now we’re not real good when we’re behind schedule.”

And despite the shutout, Stewart said there are things for his team to work on defensively.

“You give up zero, and there’s a whole long list of things for us to get fixed,” he said. “We’re nowhere near where we need to be. Just communication is a big key for us.”

Playing with discipline was something the coaches worked on during the summer, he said, and the Tigers showed that Friday, he felt.

In the second half, Boutte carried in from seven yards out with the point-after attempt failing. Tyreese Jackson added a two-yard TD run a minute later following an interception by Blayne Delahoussaye that he returned 11 yards to the NISH 2.

“I don’t get a chance to watch all of them (the offensive plays), but every time I looked up Kayshon Boutte’s running up the middle,” Stewart said. “I’m glad I don’t have to defend him. He’s a special player.”

New Iberia quarterback Michael Akins sparked a second-half drive with his 28-yard carry and ensuing 15-yard penalty after being tackled out of bounds but the drive ended with a pair of incomplete passes on goal-to-go plays as time wound down.

“We had some good plays tonight, we just couldn’t sustain any drive until that last one at the end,” Hutson said. “We’ve got to get better there, help our defense out.”

Boutte had two catches for 104 yards and two TDs and two runs for 9 yards and another touchdown. Makholven Sonn had two catches for 22 yards and Eddie finished 4-for-5 for 126 yards with the two scores.  Jackson had 30 yards on seven rushes.

Taegan Bourque completed three of four passes for 43 yards for the Yellow Jackets and Akins went 2-or-5 for 18 yards. J’lon Auzenne had all five receptions for NISH for 61 yards.

Tre’Nyi Doucet led New Iberia with 20 yards on three runs and Chavis Archangel had 17 yards on 10 rushes. Four of New Iberia’s five starting offensive linemen were playing their first varsity snaps, Hutson noted.

“They obviously looked a lot more seasoned than we do,” Hutson said. “They’ve got some guys who have been playing a large number of years. We had a bunch of first-time players tonight, and it showed. It was a good learning experience for our players.” 

Hutson said his team didn’t play as physical on defense as it needed to, and the coaches will address that as the team tries to continue improving. 

Boutte was selected as Westgate’s Player of the Game by the press box crew and Akins was New Iberia’s Player of the Game. The award is sponsored by Community First Bank and The Daily Iberian.

New Iberia opens the regular season Thursday at St. Martinville. Westgate opens at home against Catholic High on Friday.

 

Loreauville 28,

Highland Baptist 0

Loreauville put up four first-half touchdowns before playing subs the entire second half against Highland Baptist in the second game of the night.

The Tigers opened the scoring with a beautiful 73-yard scoring pass from Zy Alexander to Logan Girouard, who caught the ball on his fingertips at about the 20-yard line before racing into the end zone with 9:46 left in the opening half.

Chris Anthony scored on a 25-yard run two minutes later for a 12-0 lead, and Jaylyn James added a 21-yard scoring run with 6:29 left. Leslie Joseph added the 2-point conversion on that touchdown, and then scored on an 82-yard run of his own with 2:45 to go. Anthony tacked on the 2-point run following the long run.

Joseph was selected as Player of the Game for Loreauville after finishing with 103 yards on two carries. James running twice for 37 yards and Ethan Simon carrying three times for 84 yards.

Highland quarterback Myles Liggans was picked as his team’s Player of the Game.

Highland Baptist plays at Houma Christian on Friday and Loreauville plays at Vermilion Catholic in head coach Terry Martin’s first regular-season game for the Tigers.

 

Jeanerette 19,

Delcambre 2

Shonathon Sparrow returned the second-half kick 76 yards for a touchdown and rushed for 84 yards as Jeanerette pulled away in the second half to beat Delcambre in the jamboree opener.

Sparrow, the Player of the Game for Jeanerette, averaged more than eight yards on his 10 carries, including a 54-yard run.

Delcambre led 2-0 with 8:36 to go after the ball was snapped over Jeanerette punter Noah Rollins’ head. 

Rollins tracked the ball down in the back of the end zone but was forced out of bounds for the safety.

After forcing DHS to punt on the ensuing series following the free kick, Jeanerette took the lead for good on a 16-yard touchdown run by Elton Alexander Jr. with 1:27 left in the half.

Sparrow widened the lead to open the second half and Tyrell Brooks made it a three-score game with his four-yard power run later in the period.

JHS finished with 152 yards on the ground and limited Delcambre to 26 rushing yards and no completed passes.

Nathan Picard was chosen as Delcambre’s Player of the Game after playing defense, carrying the ball once on offense and punting five times. He also had one of the Panthers’ two interceptions with Katom Miguez pulling in the other pick.

Jeanerette plays at Sci Academy in New Orleans on Friday and Delcambre opens at home against South Cameron.