MCHS falls to HLB in scrimmage

H.L. Bourgeois found the end zone easy during the controlled portion of Friday’s scrimmage against Morgan City at Thomas B. Smith Stadium in Houma.
The Braves scored three times during the controlled work with their first-team offense.
In the 12-minute live quarter, it looked like the Braves wouldn’t have enough time left to score a touchdown before it ended.
But with six seconds left, H.L. Bourgeois senior running back Ty Henry pushed his way into the end zone from a yard out to score the only touchdown of the live quarter.
After a long day’s work, H.L. Bourgeois coach Ryan Fournier said the Braves got a little fatigued in the live period. The two teams got to work with their special teams units, and their first and second units on offense and defense saw action.
“If anything, the live quarter was the most disappointing part,” Fournier said. “I thought we executed so well early offensively. We didn’t execute well in the live quarter. I think part of it was we got a little tired, and our legs got a little heavy.”
But Henry came through with three touchdown runs (two in controlled portion and one in the live quarter) for the Braves.
“What’s great about that is he has the nickname ‘Touchdown Ty’ from junior varsity ball from last year,” Fournier said. “Every time he was in, it seemed like he was scoring touchdowns. Ty is our team leader. He’s our team captain. We believe in him. He’s truly our guy. He’s such a good teammate, and his guys love him. We were happy to see him have some success (Friday).”
Henry wasn’t the only Braves player to have success Friday.
Quarterback Jordan Rainey had a big runs and completed passes in controlled work, and running back Javon Pharagood ran over several Morgan City defenders for a short touchdown run. Da’Wuan Diggs had several long runs, and Tyrik Jenkins caught a deep pass from Rainey. Will Babin moved the chains with runs.
Despite several penalties, Fournier said he was pleased with the Braves’ offensive attack.
“I couldn’t be happier. I thought we executed,” Fournier said. “We did the things I asked the kids to do coming into this scrimmage. The coaches wanted to see some things, and we messed around with some personnel tonight. We got some things on film. It’s definitely a lot of good things to teach off the tape. We’ve got a young football team, and we’ll use this and the film we got from this for us to get better.”
H.L. Bourgeois’ defense got two interceptions from defensive backs Keiondre Hill and Jordan Adams.
Morgan City failed to score a touchdown the entire scrimmage but moved the ball at times in the live period. The Tigers committed several penalties, mainly on offense, that pushed them back.
Devonta Grogan had a 15-yard run on a jet sweep into Braves territory, but the Tigers couldn’t sustain any long drives. Khai Hartley and Kane Sanchez took snaps at quarterback.
“When we didn’t move backwards because of our illegal procedures and bad snaps, we actually moved the football a little bit,” Morgan City coach Chris Stroud said. “We had some impressive plays, but we didn’t get into the end zone. That was disappointing, but we did move down the field and we got a lot of positive yards with our first offense.”
Although they allowed four touchdowns, Stroud said he was proud of the way his team competed.
Morgan City will play Patterson in the Taco Bell Morgan City High School Jamboree Friday at approximately 7:45 p.m.
“I thought our kids fought a little bit,” Stroud said. “We made a ton of mistakes, but you expect that in a scrimmage. You have to hand it to Coach Fournier. His squad came out and hit us pretty good.”
Both coaches said they didn’t have any serious injuries during the scrimmage.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Chris Singleton is a sports writer for the Houma Courier.