Hanson rides defensive effort to stunning upset of Morgan City
FRANKLIN — Hanson Memorial Football Coach Chris Sanders couldn’t hide his elation and pride in his young team’s performance against a bigger Morgan City football team. That effort led to a hard fought 12 to 3 victory, the first of the season for the Tigers. It was also the first game that Hanson scored after being shut out by St. John and Westminster Academy. Sanders was overjoyed for the win. “We’ve had a tough opening to our season, and we struggled offensively for a while,” Sanders said. “We found a little bit of a rhythm today, our offensive line played really well, and we ran the football very very well.”
With a healthy offensive line, the Tigers game plan was to run the ball as much as possible, and they did despite three fumbles lost and a turnover on downs. Hanson started the game off strong by driving all the way to Morgan City’s 10-yard line, but the defense tightened, and Hanson turned the ball over on fourth down. This was the first quarter script for both teams, with punts, fourth down stops, a fumble by Hanson, and no score.
Going into the second quarter, Hanson got the first break of the game, when on what Sanders described as a “fluky play”, Donald Foulcard stripped the ball from a Morgan City runner and bulldozed his way through a plethora of players , running 63 yards for a Hanson touchdown. The junior defensive back said he just did what he had been taught. “I got good football instincts that I learned from my dad and uncles,” Foulcard said. “I just went in stripped the ball and took it to the house.”
Hanson nearly scored right before half time when Micah Evans intercepted Morgan City Quarterback Khai Hartley’s pass and ran it to the five-yard line before being tackled. Later in the game Evans was tagged with 15-yard penalty for taunting, to which Sanders was shocked. “This is the nicest, quietest guy you’ll find. He doesn’t even hit that hard,” Sanders said. “He wasn’t taunting anybody.” For his part, Evans has embraced his new nickname of “Mr. Taunting.”
There was a little more offense in the second half as Morgan City kicked a field goal with seven minutes left in the third to make it 6 to 3 Hanson. Hanson stuck to their game plan and continued to run the ball successfully but couldn’t get into the endzone until the end of the third quarter on quarterback Collin Faucheux’s three-yard run.
Hanson’s defense, led by Donald Foulcard, Eugene Foulcard, Braden Loustalot, and Blake Miller kept Morgan City out of the endzone, and were able to withstand a final drive which ended on a fourth down turnover on Hanson’s five-yard line.
Overall, Hanson had 298 total offense to Morgan City’s 186 yards. A slew of Hanson running backs contributed to a balanced running attack that garnered 249 yards.
Brden Loustalot led the way with 72 yards on 8 carries.
Collin Faucheaux had 71 yards on 16 carries. Eugene Foulcard had 69 yards on 12 carries and Donald Foulcard chipped in 37 yards on 7 carries.
Hanson travels to Baton Rouge for its next game to play Thrive Academy.