Hahnville’s offense is firing on all cylinders as they make their way into the second round of the playoffs this week.
In their second 300 plus yard rushing game in a row, the No. 24 Tigers (6-5) ran over the No. 9 Ouachita Lions 42-25 in an upset victory.
Hahnville head coach Lou Valdin said the Tigers took the lead and never looked back.
“We jumped on them early,” he said.
Hahnville stopped Ouachita on their first series and were ready when the Lions attempted a fake punt.
“The first series they tried a fake punt and we intercepted it and got in the red zone and scored. Then we got the ball back and ended up scoring again,” he said.
Valdin says having quarterback Dylan Keller back in the starting lineup is a big reason behind his team’s recent success on offense.
“I think a lot of that was a combination of Dylan Keller and Lynn Simmons,” he said. “The past two games we have scored 70 points. That really helps the defensive coordinator when your offense is keeping the other team off the field.”
This Friday, the Tigers will go toe-to-toe with another explosive offensive team in Barbe (8-2). The Buccaneers have one of the best high school receivers to ever play the game in LSU commitment Trey Quinn.
Last week in a 42-16 win over South Lafourche, Quinn broke a national record after catching nine passes for 171 yards. He now has more than 6,500 receiving yards in his career, the most ever by a high school receiver. Against South Lafourche in the first round, Quinn caught three touchdown passes and ran for another score.
With Quinn’s help, the Barbe offense is averaging more than 43 points a game. Their lowest point total of the season came in a 27-19 win over West Monroe.
Their only losses came against No. 1 Acadiana and New Iberia.
Valdin said his team will have to keep the explosiveness of Barbe’s offense at bay. The Buccaneers return most of their starters from a team that advanced to the state championship in 2012.
“They’ve got everyone back who went to the Superdome last year,” he said. “They are all very good. The kid who plays quarterback is kind of like a Johnny Football type. He scrambles all over the place and buys time. The receivers are well coached and the quarterback starts scrambling and finds an open area.”
Not giving up the big play will be the key for Hahnville’s defense.
“The thing is to just keep them in front of us. We have to make them take it slow and make them work for points. We don’t want them scoring in one or two plays,” Valdin said. “We want to try and shorten the game as much as we can on offense because we want to control the clock.”
Hahnville also hopes to keep their powerful rushing attack rolling as a way to keep Barbe’s offense off the field.
“I think we will be able to run the football on them,” Valdin said. “We are going to have to. If we can’t control the football by running, then we can’t win.”
Home field advantage should also make a difference as Barbe will travel from Lake Charles to take on Hahnville at Tiger Stadium in Boutte on Friday, Nov. 22. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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