The Hahnville Tigers (6-5) came back from a two score deficit to lead the Parkway Panthers (11-1) late in the game, but could not hold off a late surge in the Panthers’ rushing game and ended up falling by a score of 28-31 to end their season.
Despite the loss Hahnville’s senior tailback Sergio Medina had another remarkable night with four touchdowns including the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter that gave Hahnville their only lead of the night at 28-24 with 6:35 left in the fourth quarter.
After that score Parkway tailback Brian McGuffee came out of the shoots with a 31 yard run and a few plays later on third down and six he picked up 12 yards and put the Panthers in the red zone. Parkway quarterback Brandon Harris took in the final score of the night from 11 yards out after he rolled to the right and sprinted to the pylon for a touchdown making the score 28-31.
Hahnville Head Coach Lou Valdin said although the Tigers played well certain parts of their game did not make the grade.
“We made mistakes,” Valdin said. “We had a turnover and our special teams allowed some big returns.”
Hahnville fullback Jyrus Evans had the only turnover of the game when he bobbled a handoff on the first play of Hahnville’s second drive. That turnover led to a drive that ended in first touchdown of the night when Parkway’s Stacy McCray drove the ball in from seven yards out after a pair of completions by Harrison.
While Parkway did have a fumble later in the game a lucky bounce put it into the arms of one of their own players who ran it in for a touchdown.
The kick coverage units for Hahnville suffered throughout the contest and gave up returns of 39, 47 and 40 yards. Following the Hahnville’s last two scores kicker Craig Ford squibbed his kicks in an attempt to stifle Parkway’s return game.
In addition to those mistakes, Parkway’s offense lured Hahnville into jumping offsides for first downs twice, including once on the final drive of the game.
Other special teams units for the Tigers played well though. Punter Brooks Vial had a few 40 plus yard kicks and pinned Parkway at their own three yard line midway through the third quarter on one punt. After Parkway went three and out on that drive Anthony Mott provided a good rush and tipped the first of two punts he would partially block on the night.
The Hahnville defense also had some big plays including back-to-back sacks to end a drive in the first quarter as well as a goal line stand at their one yard line that was greatly helped by a sack for a loss of six yards by senior linebacker Gabe Taylor. That stop forced a field goal to end the Panthers’ drive instead of touchdown. Also, in the beginning of the fourth quarter pass rush pressure on Harrison led to a knockdown by Cornelius Darensbourg and a sack by Juvon Murrey a play later that left the Panthers’ quarterback with a limp for the remainder of the game.
Although Medina made some good runs and provided all four touchdowns for Hahnville senior quarterback Easton Melancon and the Tigers’ receivers made big plays to put Hahnville in the red zone prior to those scores. Melancon also scrambled for extra time in the pocket on numerous occasions and ran for a few first downs, including quarterback keeper for a first down on fourth down and one. However, the Tigers’ gains in the passing game were somewhat offset by a few dropped passes and overthrown balls against a tough Parkway secondary.
After the Panthers’ final score of the game return man Dylan Keller was only able to eek out a short return before he was upened at Hahnville’s 15 yard line where Melancon took over for the Tigers’ last drive of the season.
A 13 yard catch by Keller would give the Tigers a first down, but the drive stalled after a 12 yard catch by tailback Lynn Simmons for a first down on third down and 10 was brought back on a holding call and the Tigers were forced to punt with less than three minutes left in the game.
After putting the game on the defense’s shoulders Hahnville gave up a few first downs on McDuffy runs and Parkway kneeled the ball to run the clock out for the win.
“I have full pride for everyone in this whole community,” Medina said. “I am kind of upset right now, but we played to our full potential. We overcame a lot of adversity and set a good example for our underclassmen to take into next year.”
Valdin said although the season could have been better it also could have been worse.
“We came back from a lot of adversity early on in the season and got to the second round of the playoffs,” Valdin said. “I feel more bad for the kids. For a lot of them this will be their last game. I’ll live on to coach another day…I hope.”
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