Lafayette Christian edges Berwick

By ZACHARY FITZGERALD
zfitzgerald@daily-review.com
The Berwick Panthers jumped out to a 14-0 lead, scoring on its first two drives against the Lafayette Christian Knights but could not hold on in the final minutes of the game Friday, losing 28-24.
Berwick’s Justin Morvant picked off a pass on Lafayette Christian’s first offensive play of the game that quickly was followed up with Marquis Rogers’ 8-yard touchdown run just 26 seconds into the first quarter.
On the Panthers second drive, Brooks Richard scored on an 11-yard run to end a 52-yard drive less than seven minutes into the game.
However, on Berwick’s next possession Richard fumbled after making a catch, turning it over to Lafayette Christian at Berwick’s 24-yard line.
Two plays later, Lafayette Christian’s Myles Lawrence scored on a 1-yard run with 1:37 remaining in the first quarter.
The Knights scored again after a 74-yard drive finished on another Lawrence 1-yard touchdown run. Lafayette Christian had one more chance to score a touchdown before halftime but blew it, fumbling the ball out the end zone for a touchback.
The game was tied at 14 at halftime, but Berwick scored on the opening drive of the second half after a 26-yard field by Richard.
Lafayette Christian responded with a 3-yard touchdown pass from Regan Miller to Sterling Miller.
The Panthers answered with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Boudreaux to Richard on third-and-15 with 3:43 left in the third quarter.
Berwick held onto a 24-21 lead until the game’s final three minutes when Lawrence scored on an 8-yard run with 2:54 remaining for a 28-24 Lafayette Christian lead.
Berwick made a last-ditch effort to stay in the game by faking a punt on fourth-and-sixth, but Boudreaux failed to complete a pass on the play.
Lafayette Christian Head Coach Derek Landry said Friday was the fourth game in a row his team has trailed 14-0 in the first half.
“I told my kids at halftime … ‘Guys, you want me to just call Central Catholic and tell them to spot us 14’ because we seem to enjoy that. We thrive off of it,” Landry said. Lafayette Christian plays Central Catholic Thursday in District 7-1A play.
His team did not panic because the players are used to having to come back, Landry said.
Lafayette Christian, 4-3, played without the state’s leading rusher, Dylan Hargrave, who was injured in the fourth quarter of the squad’s game against Ascension Episcopal, Landry said.
“We were able to win a big game without him,” Landry said. “So my team knows now that they don’t have to rely on him to win football games.”
Berwick Head Coach Craig Brodie said, “We made some big plays early and got up on them. We just couldn’t hold the lead. I thought it was a good effort at the end of the first half getting the guy knocking the ball loose. And it went for a touchback.”
Brodie said his team did not block well on offense. His defense started off doing a job of tackling and then went through a period where the defense grabbed people but could not make the tackles.
The Panthers finished with 225 yards total offense compared to Lafayette Christian’s 396 yards.
Berwick was penalized nine times for 95 yards while Lafayette Christian was penalized 9 times for 100 yards.
During the second half, it seemed like every time the Panthers got a big run, they were penalized for holding or a block in the back, which “killed our drives,” Brodie said. “It’s hard to win like that,” Brodie said.
Landry said Lafayette Christian needed the win.
“We were in kind of a little bit of down,” Landry said. “We lost two heartbreakers in a row.”
“My kids stepped up and my backup backs stepped up, and they showed that they can carry the load and we can win the game whether we have him (Hargrave) or not,” Landry said.
Brodie said his team gave a good effort and some second-string players stepped up to replace injured players.
 “We’ve made a lot of progress this year over the previous two years, and that’s what we have to look at,” Brodie said. “We’ve been in a lot of games even though we had the losses.”
Berwick had an opportunity to win all but two of its seven games this season, he said. “We’ve got to feel good about that. We’ve just got to learn how to finish, and we will as the kids grow up a little more and get more experience,” Brodie said.
With the loss, Berwick drops to 2-5 on the season and will host Donaldsonville Friday in district play.

Berwick Box Score

                       BHS       LCHS
First downs         12          19
Rushing yards    102         256
Passing yards    123         140
Total yards        225         396
A-C-HI            26-12-0    22-13-2
Penalty yards    9-95       9-100
Fumbles-lost      3-2          3-1
Punts-avg.       3-33.7      4-31.8

Score by Quarters
BHS    14 0 10 0
LCHS   7 7 7  7

Scoring Summary
First Quarter
BHS: Marquis Rogers 8-yd. run (Brooks Richard kick) 11:34

BHS: Richard 11-yd. run (Richard kick) 5:41

LCHS: Myles Lawrence 1-yd. run (Trever Pellerin kick) 1:37

Second Quarter
LCHS: Lawrence 1-yd. run (Pellerin kick) 3:42
Third Quarter
BHS: Richard 26-yd. field goal 7:15

LCHS: Regan Miller 3-yd. pass to Sterling Miller (Pellerin kick) 6:05

BHS: Bobby Boudreaux 31-yd. pass to Richard (Richard kick) 3:43

Fourth Quarter
LCHS: Lawrence 8-yd. run (Pellerin kick) 2:54

Berwick Individual stats
Rushing
Bobby Boudreaux 12-49, Justin Morvant 5-22, Jeremy Boudreaux 2-14, Brooks Richard 5-11 TD, Marquis Rogers 3-6 TD

Passing
Bobby Boudreaux 12-26-0 123 TD

Receiving
Brooks Richard 4-48 TD, Audwin Williams 3-28, Justin Morvant 3-35, Timothy Shelby 2-12