Ellender eases past Morgan City, 47-7, in district action

By STEVE HOLLEY
The Houma Courier
BOURG – Ellender used a fast start and 27-point first half to run away from Morgan City in a 47-7 blowout victory in District 7-4A play Friday night at South Terrebonne Memorial Stadium.
Behind three first-half touchdown passes from quarterback Colby Poe, Ellender raced to a 27-0 halftime lead.
The Patriots padded their lead in the second half behind three scores, including one on defense.
Ellender got out to its big lead after Poe connected on touchdown passes of 81 yards to Da’Vontavean Martin, 27 yards to Kobe Hartman, and 58 yards to Brisson Lewis.
Ellender (5-2 overall, 1-1 district) also returned a fumble for a touchdown when Montae Smitherman scooped up a botched Morgan City (3-4 overall, 0-2 district) snap and ran 25 yards for a touchdown, capping the first-half scoring with eight minutes to play in the first half.
Poe was 6-of-10 passing for 205 yards in the half.
The Patriots were on obvious cruise control afterward and used a running clock in the second half to drain the final 12-plus minutes of game play.
Martin took over at quarterback in the second half and showed off his arm with a 16-yard touchdown pass to receiver Alvie Rice that bumped Ellender’s lead to 33-0 with 8:08 to play in the third quarter.
Just more than a minute later, Ellender made it 40-0 when Daquirs Griffin intercepted a pass from Morgan City quarterback Alex Brocato (3-of-11, 43 yards) and returned it 41 yards to the end-zone for a score.
The Patriots capped the night with an eight-yard touchdown run from Wanya Washington that made it 47-7 with 7:45 remaining.
Morgan City’s lone touchdown came on a four-yard rush by Brocato with 1:44 to play in the third quarter.
The Patriots outgained the Tigers 363-166 in total offense. Both teams were even with nine first downs.
Poe finished the night 7-of-13 passing for 218 yards and three touchdowns.
“Colby Poe did a good job,” Ellender coach Dave McCormick said. “He took the routes they gave us and put the ball right on the money. Some of those passes were pretty. It all came together with our passing game, and he did a great job.”
Because Morgan City took away the Patriots’ running game, holding them to a modest 129 yards on 15 carries by six different rushers, Ellender knew it would have to pass the ball to pull away from the Tigers.
With Poe behind center, that wouldn’t be a problem. The Patriots’ signal-caller completed short passing routes and a few deep balls.
Morgan City coach Scott Tregle said he knew it was a pick-your-poison situation with the Ellender passing game.
“We just couldn’t run with their guys,” Tregle said. “We saw on film that if we backed off, they were going to kill us underneath with the screen routes. At first, they were picking us, in other words taking their outside receiver and running a rail with the inside receiver. When we backed off a little bit, we got burned (deep) once or twice.”
Brocato finished with 94 total yards (51 rushing, 43 passing) to lead Morgan City’s offense, and tailback Ethan Scioneaux rushed for 56 yards on 16 carries.
“I thought Ethan Scioneaux stepped up and really ran hard,” Tregle said. “The offensive line started blocking better in the second half. We made a few changes there, so that helped us. Brocato at quarterback, he’s just inexperienced, but he stepped up and made some decent plays tonight. I’m just looking at positives from here on out. That’s all we can do.”
Martin and Washington were Ellender’s leading rushers with 36 yards and 34 yards on the ground, respectively.
Lewis caught three passes for 90 yards and a touchdown to lead Ellender’s receivers.
Martin had two catches for 74 yards and a touchdown, and Rice had two catches for 53 yards, including his touchdown.
Morgan City has had to turn to young player recently due to injuries.
“We had some young guys that had to step up, because we’ve got more and more injuries,” Tregle said. “We’ve been getting out-manned the last couple of weeks. South Lafourche really got us, and (Ellender) was physical and fast. It’s going to be like that throughout the district. We just have to keep working.”
Additional reporting by The Daily Review Sports Editor Geoff Stoute