Baton Rouge – Penalties and turnovers hurt the St. Martinville Senior High Tigers in a 4214 road loss to Parkview Baptist on Friday.
The Tigers fell behind 14-0 in the first half but had cut the Parkview Baptist lead to 14-7 on a Khyrie Francisco touchdown run.
But as SMSH was trying to score again, the Eagles intercepted a pass and returned it to the goal line to set up a short TD for a 21-7 lead, and SMSH turned the ball over again on the second-half kickoff, leading to another Parkview score.
“We had a couple of key turnovers that hurt us and then we had some timely penalties,”” SMSH head coach Garrett Kreamer said. “Once you fall behind the sticks it gets tough. They’re a good defense.”
Things snowballed in the second half, Kreamer said.
“We got the ball in the second and we come out and fumble the opening kickoff,” Kreamer said. “After that it started. We couldn’t quite ever catch up. We couldn’t get back in the game from there.”
Jamion James added a touchdown reception late in the game for the Tigers.
SMSH is at home against another Baton Rouge team, Class 5A Woodlawn (2-2), on Thursday.
“They’re good, they’re athletic,” Kreamer said. “A 5A school. We know we’ve got our work cut out for us. We’ve got to play our best game. We’ve got to clean up the penalties, protect the ball. Don’t beat ourselves and shoot ourselves in the foot. We’ve got to play good, complementary football.”
