One down, two to go.
Hahnville entered Friday night’s homecoming game against H.L. Bourgeois knowing it needed three wins in its final three games to have a chance at reaching the postseason. The Tigers notched the first of those via a 28-0 score at Tiger Stadium.
“It felt good (to get the win. Everybody, the offense did their thing, the defense did their thing,” said Hahnville running back Calvin Smith, who helped get the Tigers off to a fast start with a big first half. We had to come out and set a tone, show everyone we’re ready to come out and get a win. Now, we have to get the next two.”
HHS (2-5, 1-2) got rolling early after a Ryan Gregson to Calvin Smith connection went for a long gain. That set up a Gregson rushing score to make it 7-0.
The Tigers kept the pressure on from there. Smith had a big night with two rushing touchdowns, including one on a direct snap in Hahnville’s heavy Beast formation.
Smith gave a nod to his offensive line on those.
“We’ve got some dogs on the line,” Smith said with a smile. “They did their thing and we got the dub.”
Gregson and Kobe Louis continued their growing connection over the second half of the season, with Gregson finding Louis in the back of the endzone on a fade route for a touchdown pass.
It was the kind of start Hahnville needed, said Tigers head coach Daniel Luquet.
“We came out strong. We still have some things to clean up,” Luquet said. “But this was the task – we came out here to win this one and worry about the next one next week. We were able to do that.”
Defensively, Hahnville continued its strong results from a week ago. After holding Lutcher to 14 points, HHS secured its first shutout of the season on Friday night.
Homecoming wasn’t something the Tigers were about to let become a distraction from the goal at hand, said linebacker Chase Morales.
“No, we’re locked in,” he said. “We all get rowdy sometimes, but we have the leaders to tell one another when it’s time to chill out. We prepare, we watch a lot of film … our coaches tell us to fly to the football and that’s what we do. We’ve got some things to work on, we need to be even stronger over the next few weeks.”
Morales said it’s been a tough few weeks since Hahnville’s last win – in Week 3 against Northshore. But a return to the postseason is still potentially ahead for the Tigers, who have seen a clear upswing in play over the past month.
“Not gonna lie, it’s tough, but we’re not looking at the past – our eyes are on the future,” Morales said.
Bourgeois dropped to 2-6 overall, 0-5 in District 7-5A.
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