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Morgan City kept pace with South Terrebonne for nearly a half, but a key interception that the Gators capitalized on offensively and a score on South Terrebonne’s first drive of the third quarter put the Gators comfortably ahead.
Morgan City (2-4 overall, 0-2 in District 7-4A) could never recover as South Terrebonne (3-3, 1-2) cruised to a 48-20 victory.
“We’re pleased with the way we ran the ball offensively,” said South Terrebonne Coach Richard Curlin, whose squad recorded 322 yards on the ground. “We got some other backs in there this week, so we got some competition in that backfield now, and I think that’s only going to help us later in the season.”
Ahead 21-14 late in the second quarter, Morgan City quarterback Devonta Grogan was intercepted by David Lirette, who returned the ball to the Morgan City 20 with 39.8 second remaining in the half.
On the Gators’ first offensive play of the ensuing drive, Jamala Ricks scored on a 20-yard run with 32 seconds. Shea Pitre’s point-after attempt was good for a 28-14 South Terrebonne lead.
While he said the read and the pass was a bad one, Morgan City Coach Chris Stroud took responsibility for the play call.
“I shouldn’t have done that to our kids with them playing with great effort,” he said.
After the Gators recovered a fumbled pitch at the Morgan City 46 on the Tigers’ first offensive possession of the third quarter, the Gators cashed in on the turnover as South Terrebonne moved down the field before quarterback Michael Gautreaux connected with Kaden Chauvin on a 22-yard pass on a 3rd-and-goal play from the Morgan City 22. A botched point-after attempt left South Terrebonne with a 34-14 lead with 6:20 left in the third.
The Gators scored on their next two possessions as via a 60-yard run by Terrance Sims with 3:06 remaining in the third quarter and a 6-yard run by Trey Cavalier with 4:41 left in the ball game for a 48-14 advantage.
Morgan City scored on its final possession when Francois reached the end zone on a 7-yard run with 1:20 left in the game.
Francois led Morgan City with 16 carries for 94 yards and three touchdowns, while he also caught three passes for 23 yards.
Stroud noted that his team has a lot of players “beat up and banged up” from playing both ways.
“I think this four-day fall break’s going to help us a little bit,” Stroud said, referencing the break St. Mary Parish students will have the next few days. “Hopefully we’ll get healthy, and hopefully we’ll get better going to South Lafourche.”
Most notably, Morgan City quarterback Devonta Grogan left the game in the second half with what Stroud said after the contest was a bruised thigh his quarterback has been trying to play through.
“I give him credit,” Stroud said. “He’s trying to fight through some pain. He’s tough, but it just hasn’t healed yet.”
Stroud said perhaps the fall break would help, but it would be hard to heal without missing a game.
“He wants to play,” Stroud said. “He’s a competitor.”
Early on, South Terrebonne scored on its opening possession, completing the drive’s lone pass for a touchdown as Gautreaux connected with Colby Chelette for a 5-yard completion with 4:41 remaining in the first quarter.
Gautreaux completed 2 of 5 passes for 27 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
Chelette, who finished with one reception for a 5-yard score, did most of his damage on the ground as he led the Gators with 12 carries for 103 yards.
South Terrebonne totaled 349 yards of offense (322 rushing and 27 passing), while limiting Morgan City to 187 yards of offense (147 rushing and 40 passing).
After Chelette’s score, Morgan City responded with a 9-yard touchdown run by Francois with 13.8 seconds left in the first quarter to tie the game at 7, but Sims returned the ensuing kickoff 88 yards for a score with 1.7 seconds left in the first quarter for a 14-7 lead.
Morgan City tied the score at 14 with 5:28 left in the half following Francois’ 22-yard run, but South Terrebonne responded with a 1-yard run by Sims for a 21-14 lead.
Sims had 4 carries for 69 yards and a score, while Ricks added 8 carries for 70 yards and a touchdown.
Grogan led Morgan City’s passing game, completing 5 of 7 passes for 28 yards with an interception.
The Patterson Community Center hosted the inaugural Men's Basketball League this season. The five-week season featured six teams competing.
Berwick is not holding on to last week’s upset win with District 8-3A play opening Thursday when Erath comes to town.
Berwick (2-3) beat Class 2A’s 10th-ranked team, Ascension Episcopal, 38-24 in Youngsville last week.
Standout running back Josh Jones led the Panthers with 417 yards rushing on 30 carries with four touchdowns last week.
“Josh was truly special last Friday,” Berwick Coach Mike Walker said. “He works very hard on and off the field, so I wasn’t that surprised. Our linemen also deserve some praise. They did a great job opening up huge holes.”
The senior has rushed 109 times for 925 yards and 13 touchdowns this season, while quarterback Mitchell Sanford has carried 41 times for 228 yards and two touchdowns. Sanford also has completed 53-of-94 passes for 710 yards with five touchdowns and five interceptions.
Barrett Hover is the team’s top receiver with 22 receptions for 362 yards and four touchdowns.
As the Panthers enter district, Walker told the team all games up to this point didn’t mean much.
“For us to reach some of the goals we set for our program, we have to come out ready (Thursday) against Erath,” Walker said. “Erath is big up front on both sides of the ball, which can be a concern for our team because we are not the biggest up front. We have to be technically sound up front and execute our plans.”
Erath (0-5) lost to Welsh High School 41-12 Friday in the Bobcats’ final nondistrict game.
Welsh totaled 483 rushing yards.
Quarterback Luke LeBlanc leads the Bobcats’ offense, completing 87-of-159 passes for 860 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Matt Domingues is the Bobcats’ top receivers with 37 catches for 473 yards and a touchdown, while Luke Frederick has 23 catches for 230 yards.
Jax Thibodeaux is the leading rusher with 80 carries for 288 yards with three touchdowns.
Four Erath starters missed last week’s game.
Additional reporting by www.iberiannet.com
PLEASE LOG IN FOR PREMIUM CONTENT. Our website requires visitors to log in to view the best local news from St. Mary Now. Not yet a subscriber? Subscribe today!
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Patricia North Russo, 70, a native of Bogalusa and resident of Morgan City, died Monday, Oct. 1, 2018.
She is survived by her husband, James Russo of Morgan City; two sons, Ryan Russo and Matthew Russo, both of Morgan City; a sister, Marsha Bath of Houston; and four grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents and a brother.
A memorial service will be held at a later date.
October 9, 1930- October 7, 2018
Bertha Lombas “Bert” Wiggins, 87, a resident of Patterson, passed away Sunday, October 7, 2018 at her home surrounded by her loving family.
Bert was born on October 9, 1930 in Morgan City, the daughter of Paul A. Lombas and Lela E. Rink Lombas.
Bert was a one-of-a-kind mom, grandmother and great-grandmother. We were blessed beyond measure to have such a loving, caring and selfless mom. She had many accomplishments but her children were her greatest.
She will be sadly missed and lovingly remembered by four children, Lela Paray of Patterson, Merriel Rader and husband Dyerall of Patterson, Robbie Wiggins of Patterson, and Susan Ratcliff and husband Dale of Stephensville; 12 grandchildren; 28 great-grandchildren; 16 great-great-grandchildren; one brother, George Lombas and wife Betty of Tennesseee; and two sisters, Melba Willis of Franklin and Anna Arcemont of Ricohoc.
Bert was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Wiggins; her parents, Paul and Lela Lombas; one son, Ashley Wiggins and his wife Kathy; two granddaughters, Tammy and Pam Wiggins; son-in-law, Bill Paray; one sister, Helen Opperman; and two brothers, Paul Lombas and Merlin Lombas.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 9, 2018 at St. Joseph Catholic Church with Father Herbert Bennerfield celebrating Mass. A visitation will be held from 5:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. on Monday, October 8, 2018 at Twin City Funeral Home with the visitation resuming on Tuesday, from 9:00 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. at the funeral home. Following Mass, Bert will be laid to rest in the St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery.
David Douglas, 62, died Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018, at Teche Regional Medical Center.
Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements, which are incomplete at this time.
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Louisiana is called the Pelican State, and now its officials are designing two projects to shore up coastal islands with an eye to improving nesting grounds for the namesake bird.
The state got $148 million following 2010’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill to improve coastal rookeries, The Advocate reports. Officials recently told the state Wildlife and Fisheries Commission that projects being designed would improve Rabbit Island in southwest Louisiana’s Cameron Parish and fill in an area around Queen Bess Island in Barataria Bay that’s turned to open water.
The Queen Bess site has particular significance for the brown pelican, Louisiana’s state bird. It’s where scientists released young pelicans in 1968, hoping to restore the population after it was devastated by DDT.
The insecticide caused pelicans and other large birds to lay eggs with thin shells, meaning the parents would smash the eggs long before chicks would hatch.
At the time, scientists didn’t know much about how to reintroduce birds, so they chose chicks between 8 and 12 weeks old — strong enough to make the trip but too young to have their flight feathers yet. Scientists would bring the birds fish twice a day until they were old enough to fly, biologist Todd Baker said.
Three years later, in 1971, the birds released on Queen Bess Island returned to lay 11 nests — the first in a decade. The U.S. banned DDT the following year.
All told, Louisiana relocated 767 pelican chicks through 1976, and the population continued to grow such that the birds were removed from the endangered species list in 2009.
But officials now say pelicans are steadily losing Louisiana nesting sites. Some leave for Texas. Those that stay in Louisiana often must make do with less ideal nesting grounds, like coastal habitats where the ridges aren’t as high, Baker said.
The oil spill also damaged the population. State officials don’t have an exact number, but about a quarter of the dead birds collected from the disaster were pelicans. About 1,000 birds of all types were killed just on Queen Bess Island, where many pelicans nest, Baker said.
The rebuilding is a balancing act for scientists, who must rebuild enough land to expand the nesting grounds without making the island so large and high that predators move in, Baker said. The birds seek to avoid predators by laying their eggs on islands.
“As many drive along Louisiana’s coastal region and see the pelican flying above, it is easy to take for granted their great abundance,” Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Jack Montoucet wrote in a statement. “The job now is to make certain the species continues to flourish.”
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