Dawgs rally against Pios but fall short, 45-35

Cecilia to host Breaux Bridge in district-opening Civil War

– The Cecilia Bulldogs rallied from a 3114 halftime deficit to pull within a field goal of Notre Dame in the fourth quarter, but the Pioneers tacked on two more touchdowns to hold on for a 45-35 win over the Bulldogs this past Friday at Cecilia High School.

The Pios (4-1) jumped ahead 14-0 on an 80yard touchdown run from Joachim Bourgeois and an 11-yard run from William Lavergne in the first quarter.

Cecilia head coach Cody Champagne said the Bulldogs put an emphasis on scoring early, after scoring only 21 points in the first quarter of their first four games combined.

But the struggles early continued and the team had to fight back again from a deficit.

“I think that’s kind of been our Achilles heel all year, starting fast in the first quarter,” Champagne said. “We put an emphasis on starting fast last week, and the first play they score, and we go three and out (on the first possession).

“We really haven’t been scoring fast and the other quarters it’s through the roof. As a coach you try to look at things and put an emphasis on deficiencies. We’ve got to just keep grinding and we’ll get there.”

Cecilia answered with Braylon Calais’ one-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and Collin Dore’s two-yard TD run in the second quarter.

But Notre Dame surged ahead with a 24-yard touchdown thrown from Drew Lejeune to Brice Duhon and a 23-yard TD run by Bourgeois, then got a 33-yard field goal from Ty Savant with seconds remaining in the half for a 3114 lead.

Calais, who finished with 70 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries, scored in the third quarter with an 11-yard run, and Dore, who added 55 yards and two TDs on 13 rushes, scored on a four-yard run in the fourth period to pull Cecilia to within 31-28.

But the Pios gained some breathing room with Lejeune’s 28-yard TD throw to Duhon and a four-yard scoring run from Bourgeois to pull away.

“The upsetting thing is that’s one of those games you’ve got to win,” Champagne said. “They’re a senior-heavy team and they’re very good and very disciplined. They’re very technical in what they do, so as a team you want to stay in the fight with that game, and we just fell behind and never caught up.”

Bourgeois finished with 250 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries. Lejeune completed eight of nine throws for 95 yards and a pair of TDs to Duhon, who had four catches for 64 yards.

Dore and Calais each played both quarterback and running back for the Bulldogs. Dore completed 12 of 14 pass attempts for 192 yards with a TD and Calais completed three of four throws for 25 yards.

Davis led the Bulldogs with five catches for 84 yards and a touchdown and Malik Joseph (34 yards), Jayden Lewis (40 yards) and Calais (38 yards) each had three pass catches.

Cecilia opens its District 5-4A slate with a thirdstraight home game, this time taking on rival Breaux Bridge in the annual Civil War game at 7 p.m. on Friday.

With a rival coming in and the start of district, the Bulldogs know what challenges are ahead of them, their coach said.

“The sense of urgency of where we’re at and what we need to do, just talking to the kids we say we’re not playing for the scoreboard, we’re playing for a standard,” Champagne said. “We’re going to shut the scoreboard off and just play from now on. When the referee holds up the ball (at the end of the game), that’s when we’ll know who wins because we shouldn’t know what the score is, we should just be playing ball like we’re supposed to when the clock hits zero.”

The Bulldogs won’t take their parish rivals lightly this week.

“Even though their record doesn’t show it, Breaux Bridge has some athletes and can do some things if we’re not technical and we’re not ready,” Champagne said. “It’s a fun week because it’s the rival. As a player that was one of the games we got up for because it’s the Civil War. The kids should be excited playing their crosstown rival. We’ve just got to do our part and make sure we take care of business.”