H.L. Bourgeois wouldn’t go quietly into the night – but the drought is over.
Hahnville is preparing for a second-round game for the first time since 2019, the Tigers a 49-39 winner over a Braves team that arrived ready to take the fight to the 8th seeded host last week. To the delight of a loud and excited Hahnville home crowd, the Tigers got the job done – and those fans have another chance to cheer on their team this Friday night as Hahnville hosts Chalmette with a trip to the Division I non-select quarterfinals on the line.
The No. 24 seed in Division I non-select, Chalmette upset No. 9 Terrebonne in round one to advance to round two and move to 8-3 overall this season. The Owls are playing their best football at the right time of the season, winners of five in a row headed into Tiger Stadium on Friday.
“They’re very well-coached, and that shows on film,” said Hahnville head coach Greg Boyne, fresh off of his first career playoff victory in his first season leading the Tigers. “Jason Tucker does a great job … they’re very physical and they play hard. They don’t make many mistakes and don’t really turn the ball over, so you have to beat them – they won’t beat themselves.”
Chalmette advanced in the playoffs for the third time in four seasons – it’s a seasoned team and the more experienced one between the two in Friday’s upcoming matchup. No. 8 seed Hahnville, conversely, is coming off of its first playoff win since 2019 in the form of a 49-39 win at home over H.L. Bourgeois.
That 2019 playoff win for Hahnville was a 28-6 victory over Chalmette, the last time these teams faced off, be it in the regular season or postseason.
One area Chalmette really stands out, Boyne said, is on special teams – specifically in the return game. In Chalmette’s victory over Terrebonne last week, the return unit set the Owls up inside the Terrebonne 30-yard line five times in the first half alone. And with the game on the line, it was Jaden Williams’ punt return inside the Terrebonne 10 that set up Tristan Dubose’s game-winning field goal.
“Given the field position, it’s impressive Terrebonne kept things as close as they did,” Boyne said. “Terrebonne’s a good team, but Chalmette created so many chances through the return game. And Terrebonne had a chance to win there, but in the end Chalmette made more plays. When we played Terrebonne it was a good matchup – we pulled away late on a couple breakaway runs by Calvin (Smith). We’ll have to play well to beat this team.”
Speaking of Smith – he continues to post eye-popping numbers. Last week saw him rip through the H.L. Bourgeois defense for 264 yards and four touchdowns on 20 carries.
“Just another week for him,” Boyne said with a chuckle. “I know I’m saying it for the 110th time but he is so severely underrated. It’s mind-blowing that he’s not a higher-ranked prospect. He’s a great kid – his teachers love him. He’s averaged 10 yards a carry playing in a district that put several teams into the playoffs.”
Through 10 games, Smith has rushed for more than 1,400 yards and scored 20 touchdowns.
Chalmette will no doubt commit a lot of defensive resources to slowing Smith, meaning the Hahnville passing game will have to be ready when opportunities present themselves.
The Tigers defense will have to bottle up Williams – much like the kick coverage teams will – as the Owls’ receiving leader in 2023 followed up with a strong 2024 season. In the open field, he’s a game-changer.
An area Hahnville is looking to clean up – and fast – for this week comes in the area of discipline. Five personal foul penalties added up to 75 lost yards for Hahnville, something Boyne said the Tigers were quite fortunate to survive.
“75 yards on personal fouls alone, you can lose very easily – and we probably will if it happens again,” Boyne said. “We’ve got an opportunity to do something special with this group, and if we fall short of that you don’t want it to be because you’re undisciplined. It was out of character for us and the playoffs aren’t the time for it. Five guys had to do disciplinary conditioning because of personal fouls … we can’t make mistakes that hurt ourselves.”
