It came a day later than expected — and without the usual homecoming fanfare — but Hahnville powered to 8-0 Saturday afternoon with a 35-7 victory over H.L. Bourgeois at Tiger Stadium.
The win secures at least a share of the District 7-5A championship for Hahnville, which is 5-0 in league play.
The game was moved to Saturday due to the weather conditions brought on by Tropical Storm Olga Friday night. The Tigers played in front of a more sparse crowd than usual, with the school’s homecoming dance scheduled Saturday night and the LSU/Auburn game playing parallel. There were no cheerleaders or dancers, no homecoming ceremony at half, and the band was partial — but energetic.
The Tigers didn’t let it affect their focus, however, taking a 28-0 lead into halftime on the back of passing, rushing and defensive touchdowns.
“I thought our team handled it very well,” said Hahnville coach Nick Saltaformaggio. “It was an unusual circumstance and not what they’re used to, but they handled all of that change. It was a game we were expected to dominate and that’s what we did.”
Despite an early penalty setting the Tigers’ offense back, it took less than two minutes for Hahnville to jump ahead when Drew Naquin found Corey Lorio for a touchdown pass, giving HHS a 7-0 lead.
H.L. Bourgeois (1-7, 0-5) attempted to answer back and found some success moving the ball on its first drive — the Braves actually controlled the ball for nearly the remainder of the first quarter via the running game and short passes, including a fourth down conversion. But Hahnville stiffened in scoring range and got the ball back for the offense.
The Tigers had another quick drive, this one capped by Trey Labranch’s touchdown run with just over 11 minutes left before halftime, making it 14-0.
Hahnville forced a turnover to set up its next score when Lentrell Petetant intercepted a tipped ball to set the Tigers up at the Braves’ 9-yard-line. Naquin took it in from there on a keeper to push the lead to 21-0.
Brandon Comardelle made it 28-0 when the safety scooped up a fumble and raced into the endzone. That score stood through halftime. Darryle Evans scored on a touchdown run in the second half to round out the Tigers’ scoring, his 21st score of the season.
Saltaformaggio said it was a great win for the seniors in particular, who can “put another number up” on Hahnville’s wall of championship accolades for what will at least be a shared district crown, if not outright. That outright crown will be settled in the Tigers’ favor if it can down Destrehan in two weeks. Next up, though, will be a non-district battle with Jesuit.
“We got out of today with no terrible injuries,” Saltaformaggio said. “A couple people banged up, but we’re ready to go for Jesuit. We have two games to go to earn that top seed now, and both are against playoff teams. We’ll see what kind of playoff team we have … one that can make a deep run, or one that won’t, but we’ll get a picture in the next two weeks.”
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