Rayne runs past Morgan City, 39-14

Following Morgan City High School’s loss to Rayne Friday, a frustrated Morgan City High School head football coach Scott Tregle said his team didn’t practice well during the week leading up to Friday’s game.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, the bad practice carried over to game time as Tregle was not pleased with the Tigers’ first-half performance.
Rayne scored on five of seven first half possessions en route and was dominant on defense en route to a 39-14 victory against Morgan City Friday.
While Rayne’s offense was stopped in the first half just by a fumble deep in Morgan City’s red zone and another series in which the Wolves were forced to punt, other than that Rayne moved the ball efficiently, specifically on the ground.
Rayne rolled up 260 yards of offense in the first half, 225 of those rushing.
The Wolves were led in the game by the three-head backfield attack of Deontrey Wilridge, Javon Cormier and John Michael Besse.
Meanwhile, Rayne’s defense limited Morgan City to -32 yards of offense in the first half, 24 of those yards lost on a high snap over punter Irving Delgado’s head that the Morgan City punter recovered at the Tigers’ 1-yard line. The Tigers didn’t record a first down during the initial half of football.
“We just came out flat,” Tregle said. “We were flat all week at practice, at the JV game.”
The Tigers also were banged up as Tregle said Jaylen Jones was battling an injury and didn’t even practice until Thursday, while speedster Tierrell Jones also sat out the game.
During the game, the Tigers lost Scott Comeaux to injury, which Tregle said later would end the sophomore’s season. Prior to his injury, which came on a kickoff return, Comeaux had done a good job for the Tigers in the kick return game.
The Wolves also had to overcome an injury as they were led at quarterback by Donald Doucet, who started in place of an injured Javon Reed, Rayne coach Curt Ware said. Reed is the son of former LSU and Buffalo Bills wide receiver Josh Reed.
Doucet rushed for a touchdown and completed just two of four passes for 35 yards but one was a touchdown pass.
Morgan City finished the game with just 53 yards of offense, including 19 yards rushing on 25 carries with one touchdown.
After Rayne stopped Morgan City on its first possession of the game, Rayne went right to work on its first scoring drive, which concluded after just five plays when Cormier took a carry 51 yards for a touchdown.
Doucet’s extra point was good for a 7-0 Rayne lead with 9:01 remaining in the first half.
While Rayne’s next drive was stalled at the Morgan City 8 when Doucet fumbled on fourth down, Rayne would add touchdowns on its next two possessions via runs of 18 yards and 3 yards by John Michael Besse for a 20-0 lead with 9:59 remaining in the second quarter.
Rayne added two more scored via a 1-yard run by Doucet after Rayne took over at the Morgan City 1 following the special teams blunder on the attempted punt and again at the end of the half on 23-yard pass from Doucet to Trevon Fontenot for a 32-0 lead at the half.
Fontenot caught both of Doucet’s passes for 35 yards and a score.
In the second half, Morgan City got a defensive stop as the Tigers recovered a fumble on Rayne’s first offensive drive.
The Tigers needed just one play to convert the turnover into points as Jacolbi Francois, lined up in a wildcat formation, kept the ball for a 21-yard run.
Irving Delgado’s extra point was good to cut Rayne’s advantage to 34-7 with 9:29 remaining in the third quarter.
Rayne responded with a 45-yard touchdown by Wilridge on its ensuing possession at the 5:31 mark before Morgan City’s Kevon Marsh took the ensuing kickoff 78 yards for a touchdown with 5:18 remaining for what ended up being the final score.
“The second half I challenged them to come out and play hard and they did that,” Tregle said.
As a team, Rayne had 48 carries for 306 yards and five touchdowns.
Wilridge finished the night with 129 yards on 13 carries with one touchdown, while Cormier had nine carries for 99 yards and a touchdown and Besse, 12 totes for 74 yards and two touchdowns.
Francois led Morgan City’s ground game with five carries for 44 yards and a score, while quarterback Hector Tolento finished 3-of-13 for 30 yards and one interception to lead Morgan City’s passing game.
Jaylen Jones led Morgan City’s receivers with one catch for 18 yards.
Morgan City will now turn its attention to its first District 7-4A game against Ellender.
“I told them that after the game it starts Monday at 9 o’clock (in preparation for) Ellender, and if we’re going to practice like we did last week, the same results are going to happen,” Tregle said.

Morgan City Box Score
MCHS RHS First downs: 8 14
Rushing yards: 19 306
Passing yards: 34 35
Total yards: 53 341
A-C-HI: 18-5-2 4-2-0
Penalty-yards: 6-35 10-105
Fumbles-Lost: 2-1 4-1
Punts-Avg: 3-30.3 3-36

Score by Quarters
RHS: 13 19 7 0 -- 39
MCHS: 0 0 14 0 -- 14

Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
RHS: Javon Cormier 51-yard run (Donald Doucet kick) 9:01

RHS: John Michael Besse 18-yard run (Kick failed)

Second Quarter
RHS: Besse 3-yard run (Kick good) 9:59

RHS: Doucet 1-yard run (Kick fail) 0:48

RHS: Douect 23 yard pass to Trevon Fontenot (Kick fail) 0:00

Third Quarter
MCHS: Jacolbi Francois 21-yard run (Irving Delgado kick) 9:29

RHS: Deontrey Wilridge 45-yard run (Kick good) 5:31

MCHS: Kevon Marsh 78-yard kickoff return (Kick good) 5:18

Morgan City Individual Stats Passing
Hector Tolento 3 of 13, 30 yards, 1 Int.; Abram Hartley, 2 of 5, 30 4 yards, 1 Int.

Receiving
Jaylen Jones 1-18; Jacolbi Francois, 1-11; Kevon Marsh, 1-4; Tyus Jones, 1-1; Makye Richard, 1-0

Rushing
Jacolbi Francois, 5-44 yds. 1 TD; Kevon Marsh, 9-13; Jaylen Jones, 5-13; Team, 1-2; Hector Tolento, 2- (-12), Abram Hartley, 2- (-17), Irving Delgado 1- (-24)