Cecilia knocked out in quarterfinals of football playoffs
– Cecilia High School was held scoreless in the first half and couldn’t find any special teams magic that the team is accustomed to in a 47-28 loss to Plaquemine High in the quarterfinals of the LHSAA Division II Non-Select football playoffs on Friday.
The Bulldogs were unsuccessful on three second-half onside-kick tries, with the Green Devils scoring on the series following after each recovery.
“I think we had the perfect storm,” Cecilia head coach Cody Champagne said. “To start the game we had the fumble (recovery) and we had some explosive plays to get inside the red zone, but we had the first drive stall.”
After Plaquemine (121) built a 26-0 halftime lead, the Bulldogs were forced to go to their passing game more in the second half.
While that worked to some extent, allowing Cecilia to score four second- half touchdowns, the Green Devils scored three touchdowns of their own to maintain their lead and advance to a semifinal matchup with No. 1 North DeSoto (12-0) on Friday night.
The win was the 11th straight for Plaquemine and gets the Green Devils to the semifinals for a second straight season. Cecilia knocked Plaquemine out of the playoffs last season during the Bulldogs’ state championship run.
In this year’s rematch, played in Plaquemine for the second straight year, the Green Devils relied on their running game to take down the Bulldogs.
“They wanted to get back at us for last year and they did a good job of gameplanning us,” Champagne said. “We wanted to onside kick a little bit and we didn’t get those. I think if we could get that early score, some things change, but we didn’t and they took advantage of us.”
Running back Spencer Collins amassed 250 yards and five touchdowns on 28 carries and John Walker V added a pair of 2-point conversion runs. Plaquemine rushed for 265 yards in all and compiled 465 total yards after quarterback Brennan Miles completed 11 of 16 pass attempts for 200 yards.
Collins scored two touchdowns in each of the first two quarters and added a final TD in the fourth quarter.
Cecilia got its offense going in the second half with Braylon Calais rushing for 94 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries for the game. Calais also completed 12 of 18 pass attempts for 159 yards and caught three passes for 41 yards.
“You’ve got to give Plaquemine credit,” Champagne said. “They ran the ball like they wanted to and got ahead of us and made us throw the ball. They took away what we do well on offense and made us throw a little bit. This is the first time we’ve thrown for 300 yards, and that’s not what we do well.”
Quarterback Collin Dore, who sprained an ankle in the second quarter of the previous week’s win over Lakeshore, completed 10 of 12 pass attempts for 141 yards.
“Not having Dore, using Dore in spurts, kind of hurt,” Champagne said. “He’s not the prototypical pocket quarterback, and he kind of had to (be) because he was limited. He did what he could. I know his ankle was bothering him. With Calais at QB, they boxed us in and did a great job of that.”
Two of Calais’ running TDs were scrambles after dropping back to pass, the coach said.
“On film, that’s what they do,” Champagne
(Geralyn Thomassee)
said. “They give up a little bit and then they tighten up in the red zone. That’s what they did to us.”
Deondre Briscoe added 12 yards and a TD on three rushes and caught four passes for 43 yards.
Jayden Lewis led the Bulldogs with 90 yards on six catches and Jermaine Davis Jr. had seven receptions for 82 yards. Malik Joseph added two catches for 44 yards.
The Bulldogs finished the season with a 7-5 record and reached the quarterfinals for the third time in four seasons. Cecilia won six straight games at the end of the year after starting 1-4 against a slate of five playoff teams in the first half of the schedule.
“You had a new head coach and mostly a new coaching staff, and you had new leaders on the team who had to learn to lead because a lot of the guys who had played a lot of football (during two straight trips to the state finals) weren’t there anymore,” Champagne said. “I think that was the greatest thing that happened to us was the schedule that was presented to us at the beginning of the season. It prepared us to be who we are at the end. We made a little run at it. It didn’t work out. Obviously we’re not happy because we want to be where we’ve been the last two years, but I think our kids grew as a team from the first scrimmage on.
“They could have tanked it early with that slow start, but they didn’t. They understood that they had to grow as a team. We went on a little run. Obviously we didn’t get where we wanted to but I think the kids overachieved this year.”
The team will lose about 22 seniors, many of whom played for four seasons, off this year’s squad.
“Just like last year there were a bunch of them that were fouryear starters,” Champagne said. “They understood the standard. They understood what it took to win and now it’s just getting the young guys to believe in the same thing and grow as a team again.”
