Defensive stand propels Belle Place past Anderson, 8-6

Published 1:00 pm Saturday, October 1, 2022

What many fans expected to turn into an offensive shootout ended up being decided by a dramatic defensive stand by the Cardinals.

The Belle Place Middle School football team hosted Anderson Middle School on Thursday for one of the most exciting annual games in the Teche League.

“Every game is big on our schedule, but because of the rivalry and the kids knowing each other, this is just like the Westgate and New Iberia game,” said Anderson head coach Robert Pickney. “This is the little Berry Bowl. It’s usually one of us that’s winning the league every year.”

The two teams battled each other up and down the field, each one unable to convert several chances. Belle Place lost possession several times due to fumbles early on in the first half, but the defense never wavered, said BPMS head coach Arthur Frank.

“It’s very important (to be resilient), we’ve been preaching that all week,” Frank said. “We had an idea of what they were going to do tonight and the defense carried us over.”

Trailing the Cardinals 8-0, Anderson’s offense drove down the field to score a touchdown of their own, but a failed 2-point conversion left the Tigers trailing late in the game.

A defensive stop by the Anderson team forced a punt with about a minute remaining in the game, and as the Tiger offense took the field it seemed likely that they would make their way to the endzone to win the game.

The Cardinals defense had other plans.

Anderson, driving forward inside the redzone one final time, had a miscommunication regarding a spiked pass and a quarterback kneel. As the Tigers scrambled to figure out how to stop the clock, the scoreboard ticked down to 0 to give the Cardinals the victory.

Pickney said that he always expected the game to be close, but hoped that his team would have one or two more scores in them.

“All year, our defense has only been giving up 1 touchdown a game so I figured this would be a low-scoring game,” he explained. “I thought that we could probably have put one or two more touchdowns on the board with the athletes that we have. Reggie Davis (BPMS assistant coach) did a hell of a job with his defense and we had some turnovers that hurt us. I know a lot of people thought that the offenses would come and show out but we play defense here and they play defense at Belle Place, so I’m not really surprised about the defensive nature of the game.”

As for the late-game confusion, Pickneysaid the coaches accept responsibility.

“We try to cover a lot of things and you get in practice and you don’t cover everything, so that one we’re going to take on the coaching staff,” he said. “We told the kids at the end that one is on us. We’re telling them to spike the ball and the kid has a lot of football IQ, so I don’t know if he thought we meant to kneel but that one is on us.”

Frank said the win came on the back of an excellent performance by his defense.

“It was a big defensive performance, especially in the last series,” he said. “The defense came up big, made some big stops, and that’s what carried us over for this win.”

Offensively, the Cardinals relied on a dual-threat provided by quarterback Noah Antoine and running back Richard Taylor. Using Antoine as a traditional quarterback and lining up Taylor in the Wildcat formation, the Cardinals were able to keep the Anderson defense on their toes.

“Taylor is our running back and having him in the backfield really opens him up,” Frank explained. “He does a great job finding the holes and he showed out tonight. Noah can throw the ball well, and that gave us a two-headed monster tonight and we used that to our advantage.”

Richard Taylor had 183 rushing yards rushing and 7 solo tackles against Anderson. Noah Antoine passed for 85 yards and one touchdown, linking up with Jabari Stokes for a 35-yard reception to score the Cardinals’ only touchdown of the night. Mason White scored the 2-point conversion.

The Cardinals defense had 2 fumble recoveries and 1 interception, caught by Caden Lancilin.

Belle Place will be back in action on Tuesday when they host Jeanerette Middle School.