After suffering a heartbreaking loss to Lutcher, the Hahnville Tigers are ready to claw their way back into the win column when they take on O.P. Walker on Friday. Though the Tigers had three first half turnovers, they were still tied with Lutcher 14-14 at halftime. Bulldog quarterback Gavin Webster managed to give his team a little breathing room with three second half touchdown runs, but the Tigers hung in and battled back from a 10-point deficit with five minutes remaining to tie up the game at 34-34.
While neither team managed to punch the football into the endzone in the first overtime, Lutcher came through with the winning score in the second overtime period to give the Tigers their first loss of the year.
“I was disappointed in the turnovers in the first half, and we did a bad job of tackling,” Hahnville head coach Lou Valdin said. “I was proud of how they played at the end though. They rallied from 10 points down and played well defensively.”
Though Valdin would have loved to have gotten the victory, he knows that the experience his team gained from taking part in a shootout with Lutcher will be beneficial throughout the rest of the season.
“We would have liked to win,” he said. “But playing in that game has made us a better team.”
And that experience should pay off when the Tigers travel to take on Walker.
Walker is 2-1 on the year, with their most recent win coming against Helen Cox. In that game, running back Robert Kelley rushed for 147 yards and two touchdowns to help his team to the victory. The next week, the Tigers lost a close, 18-14 game to Brother Martin, who scored the go-ahead touchdown with 1:30 left to play in the game.
Though his team lost, Kelley was impressive, finishing with 168 yards on 21 carries.
“Walker is a big, physical team on offense and probably the biggest team we will play all season,” Valdin said. “They run the ball right at you, smash-mouth style.”
Walker, who runs a similar defense to Destrehan, is also big on their defensive line as well. That will present a challenge to the Hahnville offensive line.
“The key to this game will be special teams, because we have the advantage there,” Valdin said. “Defensively, we can’t give up the big play.”
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