RAYNE – The underclassmen on the Westgate High School football team are getting better and better, proving to be the difference as the Tigers notched a 59-14 win over Rayne on the road to improve to 4-2 on the season. 

With injuries plaguing the Tigers and several key starters out for the season, Westgate head coach Ryan Antoine and his staff have had to accelerate the integration of some of the team’s more inexperienced players. Against Rayne, they quickly grew into the Westgate team we all know and love. 

“Around this time of the season, you need to be getting better and not worse,” Antoine said. “That’s the frustrating thing about the first half, we felt like at times we were hitting lulls and getting worse. There were a lot of areas where, I felt like, the game could have been better. We didn’t play as well as we could have and we had a couple of blown assignments that cost us points.”

The game started uncharacteristically slow for the Tigers. After scoring  in the first half from a five-yard rush by senior Tavias Gordon, Westgate would then turn the ball over on downs to end the first period with a 7-0 lead. 

Two more trips to the endzone in the second quarter, courtesy of a 21-yard pass from freshman Brock Mitchell to sophomore Joshua John and a 15-yard pass from Mitchell to senior Davian Jackson, improved the Tigers lead to 19, but the Wolves answered back with a touchdown of their own just before the break, a 40-yard pass from Lon Paul Moody to sophomore TE Brody Trahan. 

Rayne doubled their tally on the opening drive of the second half as RB Korey Malone broke containment to score off a 52-yard run, cutting the deficit to just five points.

Changes in strategy from the Tigers coaching staff, as well as a renewed focus from the players, resulted in four third-quarter TDs from Westgate to regain a commanding lead. 

Tavias Gordon’s five-yard and one-yard rushing touchdowns were joined by Davian Jackson’s five-yard run and Dy’Traevous Lively’s fumble recovery return. A 48-yard touchdown pass from Brock Mitchell to sophomore Jackilon Robertson in the fourth quarter sealed the win for Westgate. 

Antoine praised his team for making the necessary adjustments to improve in the second half, singling out several underclassmen for their growth.  

“We’re in a similar situation to last year,” Antoine explained. “A lot of guys are getting reps and you’re starting to see improvement. When you give up 14 points, a lot of the time that is a freshman or a guy who hasn’t played much before having a mental bust. Those freshmen are going to make freshmen mistakes, but we’re starting to see that those guys are getting reps and getting better. Guys like Jackilon Robertson, who had a horrible first half but came back and gathered himself and got better. He’s really more like a freshman, this is only his second game ever playing. Brock Mitchell is getting better as well, and all of those kids are going to be dangerous for us in the next two or three years.”

The injury problems haven’t just manifested themselves in more playing time for Westgate’s younger players. Senior RB Tavias Gordon, who has racked up 856 rushing yards and seven touchdowns from 127 carries so far this season, has had to adjust to another year of shouldering much of the Tigers’ offensive burden. 

“He was frustrated at first because he’s been put in the same situation yet again,” Antoine said. “Tavias knows that he’s one of the top backs in the state and he doesn’t get the same opportunity to show it because he’s having to go through 10 or 11 people where other players on other teams don’t have to go through that. Now that Brock Mitchell and Cayden Lancelin are stepping up and playing some good ball for us and we got Davian (Jackson) back and he was able to open up some things for us so Tavias could run the ball.”

Gordon ended the night with 208 rushing yards and three touchdowns against Rayne. Freshman QB Brock Mitchell completed seven of his 11 passes for 141 yards and three touchdowns. Davian Jackson (5-59 receiving, 4-34 rushing, 2 TD) also impressed in his first game back from injury.  

The next challenge for the Tigers will be a homecoming contest against North Vermilion (2-4, 1-1) on Thursday. The Patriots, mired in controversy after a post-game fight erupted against Comeaux and caused their Week 7 matchup against Teurlings Catholic to be forfeited, will be looking to right the ship against Westgate. 

For Antoine, the distractions that come with homecoming activities and the post-game antics of his opponents won’t change the way his team is preparing for their next game. 

“We’re going to just do what we do,” he said. “We’re back home after being on the road for the past two weeks and we need to just keep stringing together wins.”