What’s been a fun district rivalry in recent seasons comes a day earlier than expected as Terrebonne visits Tiger Stadium to take on Hahnville.
This will be Hahnville’s second straight Thursday night game. The call was made to move this one up due to Tropical Depression Nine. The game is set for 7 p.m.
One concern the Tigers had to address? With all of Friday’s games being moved to Thursday, there was a shortage of officials available – but that situation was rectified as a crew from Baton Rouge will make the trip to Boutte.
Terrebonne went 8-4 last season, beating Natchitoches Central in Round 1 of the playoffs before falling to Southside.
This has been a tremendously exciting matchup in recent years.
Last season, Terrebonne captured a 52-38 win at home over HHS. Two years ago, it was Hahnville racing away for a 51-32 victory in Boutte. The schools are 2-2 over their past four against one another and shootouts have been common. Last year saw the largest class of collegiate signees ever from Terrebonne with eight and 21 seniors have departed overall, but the program has been very competitive in Tyler Lewis’ four years as head coach.
This season, Terrebonne is 2-3 thus far. Including a 29-26 local rivalry win over South Terrebonne last week in non-district action. Terrebonne is 0-1 in District 7-5A play after a 35-28 loss to Thibodaux in its only district game of the season thus far.
“They’re very athletic,” said Hahnville head football coach Greg Boyne. “Tyler Lewis has done a really good job since he’s been there. They’ve gotten to the playoffs and won some playoff games and they compete with pretty much everyone in the district. They’re younger, but still very athletic and they have good size on the defensive side of the ball.”
The new faces start at quarterback with Chase Cagle and Bennett Price. Cagle is a freshman while Price is the more experienced in the offense. They’ve rotated thus far this season.
Terrebonne’s top receiver is Terrance Diggs, who caught two touchdown passes from the former in the team’s loss to Thibodaux.
“He’s their best guy,” said Boyne. “He’s a taller kid, good sped and good size.”
Sahj Ruffin powers the rushing attack – he tallied 206 yards and four touchdowns last week in the win over South Terrebonne.
“He’s a really good back. He’s probably a bit faster than their big back last year (Quincy Adams) and he played a bit last season as well, so he’s got some experience too,” Boyne said.
The offensive line has four new starters this season, after a very talented – and sizeable – group dominated teams a year ago. The retooled line has helped generate some big performances already.
Defensively, All-State linebacker Mason Coleman leads the way. Coleman patrols the middle of the field as an inside linebacker and is known as a strong tackler and heavy hitter.
“We’ll have our hands full with him,” said Boyne. “They blitz him, they drop him into coverage, they’ll walk him up and bring him off the edge. He’s very versatile, big, fast and strong.”
The Terrebonne cornerbacks as a group are a strength as well, Boyne said. Terrebonne plays much more zone than the Tigers’ last opponent, H.L. Bourgeois.
Last week’s saw Hahnville (3-2, 1-0) earn a dominant win on Homecoming Week and in its district opener, beating H.L. Bourgeois 36-9.
Fabian Celestine scored three touchdowns for Hahnville to lead the way. It was a third consecutive very strong performance for Celestine as he continues to heat up for a Hahnville team that’s won three in a row.
“It’s just trusting each other and trusting my O-line,” said Celestine of the Tigers’ offense. “And when you have that trust, great things happen. The first two weeks we started off kind of slow. We had to get out of that … we got back to doing the things we do.
“Three in a row, that’s where we want to be. Winning’s the expectation, and we want to come out and win next week as well.”
Hahnville’s defense dominated in the first half as HHS established a 34-3 lead at halftime. The second half was played with a running clock.
Landen Teague connected with Early James for a touchdown. Landon Aymond made two field goals. Austin Sanchez recorded a sack in the endzone for a safety and Tyler Martin recovered a fumble.
