Hahnville takes aim at leaping up the power points rankings one last time this Friday night at home as the Tigers take on what’s likely to be their greatest challenge of the season’s final five games — district rival Thibodaux. Each team has lost just once in District 7-5A play, making Friday’s game a battle to determine the league’s runner-up behind champion Destrehan, which wrapped up its district schedule last week with a 49-33 victory over Thibodaux.
Hahnville (7-2, 4-1) has yet to lose a game in the second half of the regular season in any of its three seasons under head coach Nick Saltaformaggio, and once again HHS is peaking at the right time of year. Hahnville has won each of its past five games, its past four wins each by 21 points or more. Hahnville has also scored 41 points or more in each of those five wins.
Saltaformaggio said the Tigers ranked in the top 10 in power points, meaning HHS would host their first round postseason game if that holds. A win over Thibodaux could present a potential string of home games.
“Obviously, they’re very good,” Saltaformaggio said. “They gave Destrehan everything they could handle and then some. Thibodaux, without question, is a top 16 seed. So if you get a win against them here, it tells you some positive things headed into the postseason. And if you lose, it tells you clearly what you have to fix.”
Thibodaux (6-3, 4-1) is among the state’s highest scoring teams and was the rare team last week to hold a second half against Destrehan, THS taking a 33-28 advantage before ceding 20 unanswered points to the Wildcats in an eventual loss. Three second half turnovers loomed large for Thibodaux to either cut off promising drives or aid Destrehan scores. One of those was a fumble deep in Destrehan territory that deprived Thibodaux the chance to go ahead by 12 in the third quarter.
THS moved the ball throughout the night despite the absence of quarterback Saul Barrilleaux, who was sidelined by injury. In his stead, Thibodaux relied on the run, on star Amik Robertson and on some clutch throws by backup passer Kevon Williams when they were called upon, including a 58-yard strike to receiver Rochon Washington.
“That’s kind of the unknown,” Saltaformaggio said. “(Barrilleaux) played against St. Augustine, but he missed last week. We don’t know if he’ll be at quarterback, if it’ll be 1 or 11 (Williams and Washington). They have a lot of really great athletes.”
No matter who plays quarterback this Friday, the Tigers will have to find a way to corral Robertson, who will assuredly take snaps at the position no matter who joins him on the field. Robertson carried the ball 19 times for 168 yards and three touchdowns last week and will provide a foil for Hahnville star Anthony Williams, who will present his own issues to a Thibodaux defense that allowed Destrehan’s Kristian Mosley to rush for 266 yards and three scores last week.
“Amik Robertson’s going to be a bother for us,” said Saltaformaggio. “They do a good job of moving him around. But really, it’s not about where he is so much as just the question of how do you defend that guy? He’s very good no matter where he lines up.”
In last week’s 43-19 District 7-5A victory at H.L. Bourgeois, Hahnville took an early 21-3 lead in the first half thanks in part to two Williams touchdown runs and were never were truly challenged.
Austin Perrin ran in a touchdown on fourth down as time expired in the first half to push Hahnville a 28-6 halftime advantage.
Bourgeois (3-6, 1-4) marched down the field early in the third quarter and scored on Jeremy Authement’s 1-yard touchdown run to make it 28-12 and a potentially two-possession game. But Williams and the Hahnville special teams took care of that on the ensuing kickoff, Williams getting loose for a return score to push the lead to 36-12.
Devonte Clark ran in a touchdown to make it a 30-point game.
Saltaformaggio said going to the goalline alignment in different spots early in the game wasn’t something the Tigers would ordinarily like to do, but the running of quarterback Jude LeCompte was creating issues early on.
“We wouldn’t have liked to have done that if we could help it,” Saltaformaggio said. “(LeCompte) is a good football player. We couldn’t handle him one bit. But it changed things up a bit and slowed him down.”
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