In the last six quarters of consecutive District 4-5A losses to Westgate and Carencro, NISH has scored a total of 7 points.
That includes a 10-7 loss to Carencro on Friday, the Bears’ second win of the season after a 1-5 start. CHS outrushed New Iberia 221 yards to 30 on a muddy Lloyd G. Porter Stadium field to ruin the Yellow Jackets’ homecoming celebration.
  
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Carencro was coming off an open date, and that break helped the Bears prepare for NISH, said interim head coach Jud Broussard, who took over for Mac Barousse after Barousse four weeks into the season in a dispute with the school administration.
“They need it so bad, they really did,” said Broussard of the win. “I do believe that the break we had last week allowed us to focus on what we need to do as a football team. This is a big win for us.”
And as big as it was for the Bears (2-5 overall, 1-1 district), it was a stunner for the Jackets (6-2, 1-2).
“This is about as disappointing a loss as we’ve had in the last two years,” said Hutson. “We warned them all week long this was a team that could do that.”
Despite New Iberia’s offensive struggles, the Jackets were still in good shape in the second half with a 7-3 lead. NISH had only two first downs in the first half, one of those coming on a 47-yard scoring pass from Jordy Joseph to Jalen Jones with 10:13 remaining in the second quarter.
“The first half was very similar to the last half of the Westgate game,” said Hutson. “The offense couldn’t keep the defense off the field.”
But New Iberia’s two turnovers were critical to the outcome. With 2:28 left in the first half, Joseph completed an eight-yard pass to Jones on a first-down play. Carencro stripped the ball away at the NISH 31, and six plays later, Timothy Treuil booted a 32-yard field goal to pull the Bears to within 7-3 with 25 seconds remaining in the half.
NISH got some offense going in the second half via the passing game, with Joseph at one stretch completing 12 of 15 throws, including six straight. But another fumble by a receiver, this time after Dalario Austin had gained a first down on the second play of the fourth quarter, was recovered by Keylon Bruno at the Carencro 43.
Joseph finished the night 17-for-33 for 174 yards.
“You’ve got to hold onto the ball, running backs and receivers included,” said Hutson.
That set up a 10-play scoring drive that gave the Bears the lead with 6:16 to go in the game. Alex Johnson, who led Carencro with 135 yards on 28 carries, was the workhorse on the drive, running six times for 28 yards, including a seven-yard gain on a fourth-and-two play from the NISH 27. A quarterback keeper from Jordan Arnaud brought the ball to the 4, and on the next play, Damian Rubin scored to give CHS the lead.
NISH had two more chances to win the game. On the ensuing possession, New Iberia got a 12-yard pass from Joseph to Jones, who finished with six catches for 99 yards. But on fourth and about a foot, Tevin Archon was thrown for a loss to give the ball back to Carencro at the 49. Archon ran into a teammate who was trying to throw a trap block on the play.
“I’ve got to give Carencro credit,” said Hutson. “They defended the run better than I thought they would.
“We had fourth and inches, and the play was designed to go behind our best three blockers. I don’t know why he didn’t go that way.”
New Iberia got the ball back at its 20 with 2:43 remaining after stopping the Bears on the ensuing possession, and Joseph completed five passes on the drive, including a 31-yarder to Archon that got the ball to the Carencro 39 and a fourth-and-two completion for a first down.
The drive stalled at the 24, however, and Colby Delahoussaye’s 40-yard field goal attempt fell short with 12.4 seconds to go.
“We needed a win bad to get our confidence level back up,” said Broussard. “The effort was super.”
New Iberia steps out of district next week to play at Terrebonne (6-2), a 54-0 winner over South Terrebonne on Friday.
“We lost a tough one last week,” said Hutson. “This is a tougher one than last week.”
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