Streak snapped

The Morgan City Tigers may have entered Friday’s game riding a 17-game losing streak, but the Tigers certainly didn’t play like a team struggling for a victory.
The Tigers came out firing and by halftime had offensive, defensive and special teams’ touchdowns en route to a 48-12 victory against the Wolfpack.
“They have really been working hard since day one in February, and I kept telling them it’s going to pay off eventually and it did tonight,” Morgan City first-year head coach Scott Tregle said.
Friday’s win snapped a 17-game losing streak for the Tigers, whose last regular season win came on Sept. 28, 2012, when they beat Pearl River, 35-13, in Morgan City.
“They actually remind me of us from last year, an 0-10 season (and) come back (the) next year real, real hungry,” West St. Mary coach Marquis Newsome said. “The (Morgan City) coaching staff did a … heck of a job. … All kudos to them. All props to them. We came out thinking we could lay down, just do what we want to do and they don’t get points, but that’s not how football is. We’re a bunch of young guys who are inexperienced, but they learn as they go, and like I tell my players, ‘we’re young today but we won’t stay young forever.’”
Morgan City led 27-6 after the first quarter, 41-6 at halftime, and extended its lead to as much as 48-6 in the fourth quarter before West St. Mary scored a late touchdown.
“I think we handled the game pretty well. … We came out the second half kind of flat on offense, but we played hard,” Tregle said. “For the first half, we just jumped on them, and everything went our way and we just played a heck of a game.”
The Tigers started things out early on its first drive of the game as Morgan City needed just six plays to reach the end zone. The drive was capped by sophomore Ethan Scioneaux’s 9-yard run at the 9:12 mark. The extra point by senior placekicker Irving Delgado, who was 6-for-7 on the night, was good for a 7-0 Morgan City lead.
The Tigers struck again quickly, this time on special teams.
After West St. Mary punted on its first possession, the Wolfpack appeared set on letting sophomore Cristian Barard’s punt come to a stop. However, Morgan City return man, senior Jaylen Jones, picked up the ball and raced 35 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 Morgan City lead with 6:55 remaining in the first quarter.
West St. Mary had its most successful drive of the first half on its next possession.
After senior La’Bryson Polidore returned the kickoff 35 yards to the West St. Mary 46, the Wolfpack needed just three plays to reach the end zone. On second down and nine at the Morgan City 43, Shelby Phillips came in motion and took the snap from center and raced 43 yards for a touchdown.
Torrance Ballard’s extra point failed, but with 5:42 remaining in the first quarter, West St. Mary had cut Morgan City’s lead to 14-6.
Phillips led the Wolfpack with 40 yards rushing and a score on eight carries. He also was the Wolfpack’s top passer, completing 4-of-9 passes for 71 yards but also tossed two interceptions.
After Phillips’ touchdown, however, West St. Mary would get no closer the remainder of the contest.
The Wolfpack were forced to punt on three straight possessions, while Morgan City scored touchdowns on three of its next four offensive possessions.
Morgan City senior running back Kevon Marsh reached the end zone on a 42-yard run at the 4:40 mark of the first quarter, sophomore quarterback Hector Tolento connected with Jones for a 36-yard scoring strike with 37 seconds remaining in the first quarter, and Marsh busted a 46-yard run with 1:48 remaining in the second quarter for a 34-6 Morgan City lead.
Marsh led the Tigers’ rushing attack with nine carries for 118 yards and two scores.
Marsh said it was a good feeling to win again. “It just almost brought me to tears because we finally won,” Marsh said.
Jones caught four passes for 127 yards and two scores. Tolento completed 3-of-4 passes for 99 yards and two scores.
“I got the opportunities to make plays, and I made them,” Jones said of his dominant night.
Junior running back Jacolbi Francois also crossed the century mark for the Tigers with 20 carries for 103 yards.
Morgan City added its final score of the first half on defense when Scott Comeaux picked off Phillips and returned the interception down the West St. Mary sideline for a 52-yard touchdown return and a 41-6 advantage with 1:32 remaining in the first half.
Tregle agreed it was nice to be able to play ahead for once after trailing often during the first two weeks of the season.
“I didn’t think we’d be ahead by that much in the first half, but they had some miscues on special teams that we took advantage of, and that really helped us out,” he said.
While West St. Mary kept Morgan City off the scoreboard in the third quarter, the Wolfpack couldn’t punch it in themselves.
Despite a 51-yard reception by Polidore from Phillips on West St. Mary’s first offensive possession of the third quarter that put the Wolfpack at the Morgan City 27, it could not convert as three plays later, Phillips’ third-down pass was intercepted by Morgan City senior Trey Robin. Robin had two interceptions on the night, picking off Johnson on the game’s final play.
Polidore led the Wolfpack receivers with four catches for 113 yards.
Later in the third quarter, Morgan City was assessed two personal foul flags and lost sophomore Fabien Cavalier to ejection, while West St. Mary also received a personal foul flag at the same time.
Morgan City scored its final touchdown of the night on its first possession of the fourth quarter when Tolento connected with Jones on a 42-yard reception in which Jones appeared to deny West St. Mary sophomore Kaharee Lockley of at least a shot at a pass breakup.
“He does that at practice,” Tregle said of Jones’ outstanding wide receiver play. “We throw the ball in practice (and) he goes and gets it. He’s getting a lot better with his ball skills.”
West St. Mary, with Johnson at quarterback, responded to Morgan City’s touchdown with one of its own when Johnson punched the ball in from the 1-yard line on fourth down with 1:25 remaining.
Earlier in the drive, Johnson connected with Polidore on a 50-yard touchdown reception behind the Morgan City defense.
Johnson completed 3-of-7 passes for 69 yards and an interception in the contest.
Morgan City limited West St. Mary to just 204 yards of total offense (64 rushing on 26 carries and 140 passing).
The Tigers totaled 368 yards of offense (241 rushing on 39 carries) and 127 yards passing.
West St. Mary (0-3) will return to action Friday when it travels to face Northwest, while Morgan City (1-2) will host Livonia Friday.
Additional reporting by KWBJ TV 22.

Morgan City Boxscore
MCHS WSM
First downs: 15 8
Rushing yards: 241 64
Passing yards: 127 140
Total yards: 368 204
Penalty yards: 8-65 12-95
Fumbles-lost: 4-1 10-2
Punts-Avg: 1-35 4-31

Score By Quarters
MCHS 27 14 0 7 48
WSM 6 0 0 6 12

Scoring Summary
First Quarter
MCHS: Ethan Scioneaux 9-yard run (Irving Delgado kick) 9:12
MCHS: Jaylen Jones 35-yard punt return (Delgado kick) 6:55
WSM: Shelby Phillips 43-yard run (Kick fail) 5:42
MCHS: Kevon Marsh 42-yard run (Delgado kick) 4:40
MCHS: Hector Tolenton 36-yard pass to Jones (kick fail) 0:37

Second Quarter
MCHS: Marsh 46-yard run (Delgado kick) 1:48
MCHS: Scott Comeaux 52-yard interception return (Delgado kick) 1:32

Fourth Quarter
MCHS: Tolento 42-yard pass to Jones (Delgado kick) 5:00

WSM: Dondre Johnson 1-yard run (Run fail) 1:25

MCHS stats
Passing
Hector Tolento, 3-4-0 99 yards, 2 TDs; Abram Hartley, 1-3-0 28 yards

Receiving
Jaylen Jones 4-127 2TDs

Rushing
Kevon Marsh, 9-118, 2TDs; Jacolbi Francois, 20-103; Ethan Scioneaux, 3-19, 1TD; Jaylen Jones 1-16; Hector Tolenton, 2-(-1); Abram Hartley 3-(-5); Tierrell Jones 1-(-9)