– An epidemic of untimely penalties wiped out a pair of long scoring plays by the Breaux Bridge High School football team and prevented the Tigers from netting their first win of the 2026 season during Friday’s homecoming game against Acadiana Renaissance Charter Academy.
The Tigers crossed the goal line four times on plays covering 40 yards or more. Two of those apparent touchdowns were wiped out by penalties, with BBHS getting flagged nine times for 81 yards on the night compared to only two penalties for 20 yards against ARCA.
The result was a tough 21-14 loss to the Eagles, who improved to 2-3 on the year.
“Those explosive plays have been coming where earlier in the year they weren’t,” Breaux Bridge High head coach Tyler Pierce said. “The one biggest problem we have is, yes, penalties, but if you go back and look at it, they’re being aggressive. I think it’s 50-50 type judgmental calls (by the officials). I can live with that. I can’t live with just the blatant block in the back and things like that. Maybe just a little tweak or do something a little bit better to where you don’t put it in the referee’s hands like that.
“Overall, ARCA played hard and made the plays at the end, and we didn’t. That’s the name of the game.”
ARCA opened the scoring with a two-yard touchdown run by Kristian Aubrey that capped an opening 11-play, 51yard scoring drive after Breaux Bridge failed to recover an opening onside kick attempt. The 2-point conversion on a pass from Vance Laborde to Ayden Louis made it 8-0 with 8:02 left in the opening quarter.
Aubrey ran for 154 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries.
The Tigers answered quickly after returning the kickoff to the 39.
Quarterback Dakowen “Pop” Celestine dropped back to pass on the first snap and threw deep to a wideopen Nelson Borel, who raced 61 yards for the touchown to make it 8-7 following the PAT kick by Dru Cormier.
Celestine led the Tigers with 64 yards on five carries and completed five of 11 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown. Borel had all five pass receptions for 121 yards and a TD.
ARCA increased its lead to 11-7 with a 24yard field goal by Parker Robinson on its next possession.
Robinson then kicked off, with the ball bouncing over Celestine’s head and slowly bouncing to the 1-yard line. Celestine was forced to scoop the ball up, then eluded several tacklers near the goal line before breaking free up the BBHS sideline and outrunning the rest of the ARCA special teams unit to the end zone for an apparent 99-yard kick return TD.
A flag at the 25-yard line for a block in the back stopped the celebration and gave the Tigers possession at their own 15. Breaux Bridge converted three first downs on the ensuing possession before an interception ended the drive at the ARCA 12.
Breaux Bridge had another long scoring play wiped out on its next possession. Celestine kept the ball on a run from the 47-yard line and again outsprinted the opposing 11 for what seemed to be a 53-yard touchdown run.
But a flag came out at the ARCA 45-yard line, at least 20 yards behind the runner, for an illegal blindside block against Breaux Bridge, wiping out the touchdown and helping stall the drive.
The Tigers got another long scoring play on their next possession after forcing an ARCA punt.
Three snaps later, slotback Noah Solomon took a pitch from Celestine and raced 40 yards for a touchdown to give the Tigers a 14-11 lead that held up through halftime.
Solomon had 36 yards on 11 rushes.
The Eagles knotted the score up on a 30yard field goal by Robinson with 5:55 remaining in the third quarter Neither team could sustain much offense for the rest of the third quarter and the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.
But the Eagles finally put together a 10-play, 66-yard scoring drive to take the lead back on an eight-yard touchdown run by Ayden Louis with 3:06 left in the game.
Borel, a senior, led the Tigers with 12 tackles. Destin Robin added
