Crowley – Braylon Calais scored three touchdowns, including two in the fourth quarter, but the Cecilia High Bulldogs fell just short, 24-21, in a comeback attempt against Notre Dame Thursday night in Crowley.
The Bulldogs (3-2 overall) open District 5-4A play Friday night at home against rival Breaux Bridge.
“Notre Dame did typical Notre Dame stuff and made it difficult for us,” Cecilia head coach Cody Champagne said. “We also made it difficult for ourselves. We had a touchdown called back. I think we dropped a touchdown pass. We were in the red zone three or four times and either fumbled or had penalties. So on top of what Notre Dame does on defense, we didn’t help ourselves either That formula is not going to equate to success.”
Calais, who is committed to sign with the LSU football team, got the Bulldogs on the scoreboard first with a 53-yard fumble return for a touchdown after the Dawgs lost the handle on a running play.
The Pios answered with a 50-yard touchdown run from Braxton Meche and a 25-yard field goal from Ty Savant to lead 10-7 after one quarter, then added a 43-yard touchdown pass from Parker Menard to Luke Frank in the second period to go up 17-7 at halftime.
After a scoreless third quarter, Calais scored on a 13-yard run to pull CHS to within 17-14.
Menard then scored on a two-yard run to extend the Notre Dame lead to 24-14, and Calais broke free on a 64-yard touchdown carry to get the Bulldogs to within 24-21.
Calais had 214 yards on 14 carries for the Dawgs. Deondre Briscoe added 59 yards on 12 carries.
“Braylon was trying to do a lot at first,” Champagne said. “He kind of calmed down after a little bit. I found some things he could do well and we went with it. His second touchdown was all on him, breaking tackles and scoring. Then we found something that would work on his last touchdown. Obviously Braylon did his thing and took over.”
Calais also completed seven passes for 100 yards. Ashton Ruffin led Cecilia with 56 yards on three receptions and Briscoe had one catch for 30 yards.
District 5-4A play opens Friday for the Bulldogs.
“It’s a little rivalry game,” Champagne said. “First of all we’ve got to take care of ourselves and get better this week for sure and make sure we’re ready for the last five games.
“That’s kind of what we did last year. We got on a roll at the end. We got better. We’ve got to do that again. At midseason you always look at what you’ve done and what you’re good at. At week five, you are who you are, so you’ve just got to fine-tune who you are and get better.”
Quarterback Layne Champagne is slated to return from injury this week with Calais shifting back to receiver, primarily. The Bulldogs also have some defensive linemen who are expected to be back from injury.
“I don’t think we had too many injuries on Friday, so we should get healthier from here on out, hopefully,” the coach said.
Cecilia can wrap up the parish championship and win the Cypress Stump Trophy with a win over Breaux Bridge.
“We don’t talk about results (before games are played), but if we’ve got a trophy we want to win it,” Champagne said. “We start off district play and if we beat Breaux Bridge, we get the Stump Trophy back, so that’s a couple of things we’re looking forward to as a team.”
