South Lafourche defeats Morgan City 57-12 in District 8-4A play

The Morgan City Tigers kept pace with South Lafourche early in the teams’ District 8-4A contest Thursday.
However, the Tarpons pulled away as Morgan City was unable to keep up with the home team’s ground game in a 57-12 victory.
South Lafourche scored on its first seven drives, including all five first-half possessions.
Throughout the game, the Tarpons used only its running game as it attempted no passes. South Lafourche totaled 343 rushing yards.
The Tarpons received the ball to begin the game and scored on a 1-yard run by quarterback Patrick Gisclair with 9:35 remaining in the first quarter. The Tarpons’ fake on the point-after attempt was good for an 8-0 lead.
Morgan City responded immediately as senior Devonta Grogan fielded the ensuing kickoff and returned it approximately 80 yards for a touchdown with 9:18 remaining in the first quarter.
The Tigers’ extra point was blocked, and Morgan City suffered a big blow on the play as Helder Hernandez, the Tigers’ kicker and punter, was injured on the play.
Coming into the game, the Tigers already were down one of their quarterbacks as Kane Sanchez still was recovering from a concussion suffered a week ago, Morgan City coach Chris Stroud said.
“We’ve got a small squad, and anytime we get injuries, it definitely hurts us,” Stroud said.
Gisclair added South Lafourche’s second touchdown on its next drive on a 16-yard run with 6:55 remaining in the first quarter, while the Tarpons capitalized on a block punt that it recovered at the Morgan City 8 when Braxton Pitre scored one play later on an 8-yard run for a 22-6 lead with 5:12 remaining in the first quarter.
Morgan City cut its deficit to 22-12 with 2:41 remaining in the first quarter after Grogan broke a 55-yard run.
After South Lafourche scored again on a Derin Doucet 20-yard run with 11:55 remaining in the second quarter and a two-point conversion by Austin Danos to increase their lead to 30-12, Morgan City moved the ball to the Tarpons’ 23 yard line.
However, the drive stalled, and from there, Morgan City no longer threatened.
“We moved the ball a little bit offensively,” Stroud said. “We had a kickoff return (for a touchdown), so we had some positive things happen. We just have no answer stopping the run. I’ve got to look at more film, try and come up with an answer, but tonight, we didn’t have an answer.”
The Tarpons added one more first-half score on a Francois Terrebonne 2-yard run with 2:56 remaining in the first half for a 37-12 lead.
The Tigers also were without Grogan after he was removed from the game by Stroud out of caution after absorbing a hit late in the first half.
Stroud said Grogan was checked out by South Lafourche’s athletic training staff, and he is OK.
South Lafourche added two third-quarter touchdowns via a Wes Allemand run with 6:33 remaining in the third quarter and a Danos 5-yard run with 2:37 remaining in the third quarter for a 51-12 lead after Jesse Torres’ extra point. Torres converted five point-after attempts.
In the fourth quarter, Reece Toups concluded the South Lafourche scoring with a 6-yard run.
Morgan City was limited to 123 total yards (90 rushing and 33 passing).
Grogan led Morgan City with eight carries for 71 yards and a touchdown, and he caught one pass for 33 yards.
Khai Hartley completed 1 of 4 passes for 33 yards with one interception.