St. Martinville – With starting quarterback Christian Gedward held out of this past Friday’s football game against Woodlawn of Baton Rouge, the St. Martinville Senior High Tigers still put out a strong effort in a 38-20 loss to the Panthers.
SMSH head coach James Dartez said Gedward tweaked his knee while running out of bounds against Cecilia in Week 4. The following week he reaggravated it in a game against Northside.
“I sat him last week just out of an abundance of caution,” Dartez said. “Our job as adults is to save kids from themselves. If I would’ve let him play, he would’ve definitely gone out there and given 110 percent, and at the end of the day his health is more important than winning a football game. So we went with the sophomore, young Corbin (Cormier).”
Woodlawn (4-2) had several playmakers and is a very good football team, Dartez noted.
“We actually played very, very well,” Dartez said. “And I told that to the kids after the game. I was super proud of how they competed.
“Woodlawn is a very good, well-coached football team. They have some God-daggone playmakers on the outside. They have a real good quarterback. A lot of people didn’t give us a chance in this game, especially those that knew that Christian wasn’t going to be out there. Our guys came out from the opening snap just focused and locked in.”
A missed block here, a missed tackle there and a misread there gave the Panthers a few more opportunities.
“You’ve got guys that make millions of dollars on Sundays that miss tackles and miss blocks,” Dartez said. “But our guys fought well.”
Running back Trae “TJ” Williams Jr. had 24 carries for 130 yards. Cormier went 8-for-16 for 156 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
“We played extremely well,” Dartez said. “Defense had three interceptions, a pick six. We forced two fumbles. There were just a couple of plays that kind of broke our backs late in the game. We gave up a big return that kind of hurt. And when you’re missing your starting quarterback and one of your linemen is out, that’s not an excuse but we were already down to 38 players on the roster. When you’re missing a couple of bodies, especially important guys, you can’t give teams extra help. We can’t turn the ball over. We can’t miss blocks in certain situations. We can’t forget an assignment. And when you’re playing a good team, they make you pay for it when you’re at full strength. When you’re down a guy or two you definitely have to play near perfect football to give yourself a chance.”
Watching film of the game all weekend was encouraging, he said.
“Our run game is really starting to come around,” Dartez said. “We went from not being able to run the ball at all to having three straight games of over a hundred yards rushing. Corbin threw the ball extremely well. As a younger team, this is one of those games that we’re going to learn from overall.”
The defense has been playing well also, he added. Against Northside, the Tigers gave up 18 points but one TD was a result of a special teams play and another came after turning the ball over at their own 10.
“Defensively we are playing extremely well,” Dartez said. “The guys are understanding what we’re asking of them. This is our second game in a row of multiple turnovers and multiple forced fumbles. Going forward the offense just has to complement them. “
The team plays host to Avoyelles this week for homecoming.
Dartez said he knows how big homecoming is for the players and the school.
“We have team meetings every day before practice,” Dartez said. “And that was my message for the week. This is homecoming, I understand that you guys want to participate in everything. I told them the most important thing about homecoming week is the game on Friday night. I want you to have those memories. We want you to have fun. We know this is the best time of your life because after high school, life gets real and bills start coming every month without ceasing. So we want you to enjoy this time, but we also want you to be able to handle distractions.”
And there will be distractions. It’s a matter of handling them properly, he said.
“This whole week is about distractions,” Dartez said. “But, how do you handle distractions. It’s okay to have fun and then lock in 30 minutes later to go to practice. Again, everybody wants to have fun, but if you lose that game Friday night everyone’s going to look at you like you crapped the bed. So let’s make sure that we understand what this week is centered around.”
