Coming off of a tough loss to the Lutcher Bulldogs, the Hahnville Tigers rebounded with a strong 28-14 victory over the previously undefeated O. Perry Walker Chargers last Friday.
The Tigers dominated the game on the ground, as running back Ahmad White rushed for 203 yards and four touchdowns.
“Ahmad had his best game of the year,” said Head Coach Lou Valdin. “He ran like a big time player for us and helped us control the tempo of the game.”
The reliance on White was by design according to Valdin because of the injury to quarterback Brian Ensminger last week against Lutcher.
“We went into last week thinking that Brian wouldn’t play, so we planned for a lot of the Wildcat and more run plays to take the pressure off of Easton [Melancon, the backup quarterback]. But when we found out that Brian was going to be able to play, we just left those plays in the game plan,” said Valdin.
The Tiger defense once again was also crucial in the victory, intercepting Walker three times and recovering a fumble. Two of those interceptions came from linebacker Brody Bourg, the second of which stopped a Charger drive in the fourth quarter and set up the Tigers’ final touchdown.
Linebacker Ben Taylor, who finished with 11 tackles, applied pressure to the quarterback in both interceptions.
Valdin issued a challenge to the defense last week, and they responded.
“I told them that they were going to need to make big plays,” said Valdin. “We didn’t know if Brian would play, so we needed to get the ball for our offense. We needed as many possessions as we could have, so that Walker couldn’t run the clock down on us. And they made the big plays when we needed them.”
An interception on Walker’s first drive of the game by defensive back Devonty Alexander put the Tigers in Charger territory. And White took them all the way down on three carries for Hahnville’s first touchdown of the game.
The Tigers quickly took control of the game, scoring on their next two possessions to take a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, however, the Chargers fought back. Capitalizing on a blocked punt and two significant penalties on the Tigers, Walker put eight points on the board with a touchdown and a two-point conversion.
Later in the third quarter, Bourg’s second interception was key as it prevented the Chargers from scoring and allowed the Tigers to put more points on the board on a White touchdown run.
With the score 28-8, the Chargers mounted one last scoring drive to bring them within two touchdowns. But the Tigers would run the clock down on their next drive, sealing the victory.
The Tigers were supposed to host Vandebilt Catholic this Friday, but because of the tragic deaths of two Vandebilt players this past weekend, the game has been canceled.
The cancellation gives the Tigers a bye-week going into their district schedule. Valdin says that the team is going to focus on the fundamentals.
“When you go into the season, you are focused on your next opponent,” he said. “You have less time to focus on fundamentals and the little things. This week, we are going to concentrate on those little things, fundamentals and technique. And we’re going to spend a lot of time on special teams. We’ll worry about East Ascension next week.”
The Tigers will next travel to East Ascension to take on the Spartans on Oct. 8th at 7 p.m.
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