The first half of Friday night’s non-district battle between visiting Hahnville and host Lutcher saw two teams trading blows, back and forth.
The second half? All Tigers.
Landen Teague accounted for four touchdowns – including three on the ground – and Fabian Celestine ran for two more as Hahnville evened its record at 2-2 this season with a 42-21 victory at the Dog Yard in Lutcher.
“It’s a River Parishes game, and we haven’t played these guys in a while,” said Hahnville head football coach Greg Boyne. “We have a lot of respect for their program, so it’s a good win for ours … we thought they looked a little tired near the end of the first half, they play a lot of guys both ways, so we came out after halftime and tried to run the football. We had some success and we stuck with it. Our defense played a heck of a second half.”
Teague rushed for a touchdown just before halftime that gave HHS a 28-21 lead. It gave the Tigers the lead for good. The HHS defense pitched a second half shutout and Hahnville scored twice in the third quarter to take firm control of things.
Lutcher (2-2) was clicking in the first half behind more than 100 rushing yards by quarterback Terron Charles. But the Hahnville defensive front began to assert itself as the game went on. Defensive end Beaux Woods tallied 2.5 sacks for the Tigers to help lead that surge.
This was Lutcher’s lowest scoring output of the season, after posting totals of 35, 57 and 49 in its first three games.
“I thought for the third week in a row, we made some unbelievable adjustments at halftime defensively, and that carried over into how we played the second half,” Boyne said.
Woods said the message from the Tiger coaches at halftime was heard loud and clear.
“I made a lot of mental mistakes in the first half, and my coaches just trusted and put me back on the field. I used my speed moves and my hands to my advantage … I used the things the coaches said at halftime as my fuel. And I’ve got to give a whole lot of praise to our secondary as well,” Woods said.
Teague scored on a 22-yard run to put Hahnville ahead 7-0 in the first quarter. Lutcher tied it up on a 17-yard touchdown connection between Charles and Johnny Jones. Teague scored a 1-yard touchdown to put Hahnville back ahead, but a 3-yard Charles run tied it up again.
Fabian Celestine’s 8-yard touchdown run put the Tigers ahead, then Charles took off from 30-yards out and scored to tie it again.
In the third quarter, another Celestine touchdown run and a 40-yard touchdown pass from Teague to Dwayne Cola spurred Hahnville ahead by three touchdowns, which ultimately proved to be the final margin of victory.
Hahnville scored on its first six possessions of the night.
“It comes 100 percent down to preparation throughout the week. We work hard every day. Huge props to my O-line, they did amazing today. They work the hardest out of everyone all week,” Teague said. “Without that line, I wouldn’t be anything.”
The senior quarterback added that the Tigers’ schedule thus far – against powerful programs in Shaw, St. Charles Catholic and E.D. White – went a long way to prepare the Tigers for yet another historically strong program and talented team in Lutcher.
“These first four games we’ve played have been some of the tougher teams I’ve played in my three years of being the quarterback. And that 100 percent prepared us for this game, last game and for the rest of the season, through district and hopefully all the way up to the state championship,” Teague said.
