Panthers beat Highland Baptist

The Berwick Panthers picked up their first win of the season in their home opener Friday night, overcoming a 21-20 deficit in the third quarter to win, 28-21, against the Highland Baptist Bears.
Berwick scored on its first drive of the game, going 72 yards while taking 4:45 off the clock before scoring on a 10-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jeremy Boudreaux to Marquis Rogers.
The Panthers were not as successful on their next two drives, losing a fumble and then turning the ball over on downs on its third possession of the game. Highland Baptist returned the favor to Berwick and turned the ball over on downs on its next possession.
The Bears’ turnover on downs set up a scoring drive for the Panthers, capped by a 48-yard touchdown pass to freshman Kenan Jones with 6:03 left in the second quarter.
Highland Baptist looked like it may go into halftime without scoring, but the Bears’ Gary Roberts intercepted a pass, his first of three Friday, returning the pick 52 yards for a touchdown with 1:03 left in the second quarter.
But Berwick responded with Jones catching another touchdown pass just 19 seconds before halftime. The Panthers went into the half with a 20-7 lead after not being able to get an extra point off due to a bad snap.
Berwick Head Coach Craig Brodie said his team played well in the first half, though the Panthers lost some momentum after the pick-six.
“But that’s my fault,” he said. “We should’ve been more conservative.”
Highland Baptist wasted no time scoring to start the second half on an 88-yard touchdown run by Brontre Griffin a mere 39 seconds into the third quarter, narrowing Berwick’s lead to 20-14.
The Bears took advantage of another of Roberts’ interceptions that led to a 30-yard touchdown pass to Brody Griffin, taking a 21-20 lead with 2:56 to go in the third quarter.
After the Panthers threw another interception and lost another fumble, both which Highland Baptist failed to get any points from, Berwick started its subsequent drive at midfield.
Braden Billiot’s 33-yard run set up an 8-yard Boudreaux touchdown run with 6:04 left in the game.
On Highland Baptist’s next possession, Berwick recovered a fumble that the Panthers’ Justin Morvant ran back more than 70 yards for a touchdown, but the touchdown was called back after a block in the back penalty against the Panthers. Still, Berwick maintained possession of the ball and sealed the victory.
“We were going to go up by two touchdowns and the game’s over, but a young kid blocked somebody in the back, unnecessary, 30 yards into the play,” Brodie said. “Hopefully, we’ll learn from those things.”
Brodie called Highland Baptist a tough football team with some good athletes.
“I’m happy with the way we competed,” Brodie said. “It made me feel good about our team.”
When Berwick was down 21-20, Brodie said the feeling “was almost déjà vu” being down a point due to an inability to net an extra point, which is how the season opener ended in a 14-13 loss to Delcambre. But this time, the game ended differently with the Panthers scoring one more time and making the two-point conversion.
“I’m happy for the kids,” Brodie said. “They deserve it. They’ve been working so hard over the last three years since I’ve been here. It’s starting to pay off.”
Billiot led the Panthers with 152 yards rushing on 13 carries.
“We’ve been saying we need to get the ball in his hands more, and he definitely closed out the game for us that last drive, for sure, running the clock out,” Brodie said.
Boudreaux tried to force the ball a little too much later in the game and threw three interceptions, Brodie said.
Boudreaux also threw three touchdown passes to go with his rushing touchdown.
“I thought he played a good football game, directing the offense,” Brodie said. “He’s getting better every week.”
The Panthers are looking forward to playing at home again Friday against Hanson Memorial, Brodie said.
“We’ll enjoy it (the victory) for at least a day or two,” Brodie said.
Highland Baptist Head Coach Artie Liuzza said, “In the first half, we had a lot of mistakes, and it was just too hard to overcome them.”
Still, Highland Baptist “gave a lot of effort in the second half,” Liuzza said.
In the end, Berwick just proved too much for Highland Baptist and executed really well, Liuzza said.
“This is early in the season,” Liuzza said. “It’s a non-district game against an opponent that was, quite frankly, supposed to beat us. We’re going to take a lot of positives from this. We’ve got eight games left, and we’re going to try and make the playoffs.”
Highland has a young team of just 30 players, of which about half are underclassmen, with only six seniors, Liuzza said.
“We’ve got a lot to build on,” he said.

Berwick Boxscore
BHS HB
First downs: 18 9
Rushing yards: 233 174
Passing yards: 176 58
Total yards: 409 232
A-C-HI: 18-11-3 13-5-0
Penalty yards: 10-80 8-60
Punts-Avg: 0-0 5-31.4
Fumbles-lost: 8-2 2-1

Score By Quarters
BHS 7 13 0 8 28
HB 0 7 14 0 21

Scoring Summary
First Quarter
BHS: Marquis Rogers 10-yard pass from Jeremy Boudreaux (Shannon Theriot kick) 7:15

Second Quarter
BHS: Kenan Jones 48-yard pass from Boudreaux ( Theriot kick) 6:03

HB: Gary Roberts 52-yard interception return (Logan Jordan kick) 1:03

BHS: Jones 12-yard pass from Boudreaux 0:19

Third Quarter
HB: Brontre Griffin 88-yard run (Jordan kick) 11:21

HB: Brody Griffin 30-yard pass from Jordan (Jordan kick) 2:56

Fourth Quarter
BHS: Boudreaux 8-yard run (Braden Billiot run) 6:04

BHS stats
Passing
Jeremy Boudreaux 11-of-18 for 176 yds, 3 TDs and 3 INTs

Receiving
Audwin Williams 6-90 yds, Kenan Jones 2-60 yds, 2 TDs; Marquis Rogers 2-25 yds, TD; Justin Morvant 1-1 yd

Rushing
Braden Billiot 13-152 yds, Jeremy Boudreaux 16-49 yds, TD; Justin Morvant 4-28 yds; Drayln West 5-18 yds, Marquis Rogers 4-(-5yds); Zachary Dupuy 1-(-9 yds)