The day after the Hahnville Tigers lost to the Rummel Raiders in triple overtime, Hahnville head coach Nick Saltaformaggio diverged from his regular postgame practice.
Instead of going over game film and making his players run sprints on Saturday, he took them to see the film “When the Game Stood Tall,” which is about a California team that had a 151-game win streak from 1992 to 2003.
Saltaformaggio said going over the game film would not have helped Hahnville (1-1) because they were not beat by Rummel (2-0), but were responsible for beating themselves.
“We’ve got to be better in the classroom and make better life decisions and then what happens on Friday nights will reflect that in a positive way,” he said. “I know we have a good football team…the kids don’t know it, but I know it.”
Hahnville’s loss on Friday was the first Saltaformaggio has experienced as a coach in nearly two years.
“That is the first time I’ve lost a football game since late September 2012, so I am not the most happy camper,” he said. In particular, it was the way the Tigers lost that upset Saltaformaggio the most.
“We were the better team last week, but we didn’t win,” he said.
The Tigers gave up two passing touchdowns on blown coverage and fumbled twice deep in their own territory. Rummel turned both of those fumbles into scores.
Despite those mistakes the Tigers were tied with Rummel in the fourth quarter and marched deep into Raider territory with 40 seconds left in the game. However, Hahnville could not convert a field goal for a win in the waning seconds of regulation.
The Tigers eventually lost in the third overtime, after going toe-to-toe with Rummel for the first two overtime periods.
Despite the sting of the close loss, Saltaformaggio said he thinks the experience will ultimately be a positive one for his team.
“If we would have won the game the problems we still have would still be there and would have never come to light, but by losing the game we can say, ‘this is where we are bad and not progressing,’” he said.
Saltaformaggio said if his team does not get on the right track heading into a three-game stretch where they take on some of their toughest competitors of the year – Landry-Walker, Thibodaux and then Destrehan – the results could be dire.
“It is a real simple. Fix yourself mentally and then we will go on and have a great year. Otherwise, we are going to be 5-5, the No. 28 playoff seed and have to get on a bus and travel to north Louisiana,” he said.
That fix begins on Friday night in Algiers when the Tigers take on Landry-Walker.
Saltaformaggio said Landry-Walker (2-0) is a very good team.“They are another big challenge. They are the No. 2 team in 4A. They are big, talented and have a bunch of college prospects,” he said.
Landry-Walker has outscored their opponents 95-15 in the first two games of the year in wins over South Lafourche and Miller-McCoy. Landry-Walker led Miller-McCoy 41-0 at halftime, but the game was stopped after a fight on the field.
Landry-Walker quarterback Li’Jon Cordier leads his team’s offensive attack. Last year, Cordier was impressive in Landry-Walker’s overtime victory against Hahnville at Tiger Stadium.
Cordier is a dual threat as a runner and a passer and has a set of tall receivers to throw the ball to. Against South Lafourche in the season opener, Cordier racked up 283 combined rushing and passing yards with three passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown.
Landry-Walker running back Tevin Bush is also explosive on offense and had four touchdowns off of eight carries and 124 yards rushing against South Lafourche.
On defense Hahnville will be looking out for a number of players, especially defensive end George Lea.
“They are always going to have kids run to the ball that are physical kids,” Saltaformaggio said.
Despite the skill Landry-Walker has exhibited in their first two games, Saltaformaggio said it is up to the Tigers to bring their best to any competition. If they do that, Saltaformaggio does not feel anyone can beat his squad.
“Week in and week out it doesn’t matter who we play. If we play up to our ability and stay mentally challenged and focused, we will win. We were the better team last week but we didn’t win. Hopefully we can correct it Friday night,” Saltaformaggio said.
Hahnville travels to Behrman Stadium in Algiers to take on Landry-Walker on Friday at 7 p.m.
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