LOREAUVILLE -- A fresh set of legs, an opportunistic defense, a change in offensive philosophy, a coach who urged his team not to quit and a senior who kept it all together. Mix them well and the result is come-from-behind, 21-12 District 6-2A win for Loreauville over Jeanerette Friday.

“That’s been our motto all year,” said LHS coach Trent Delahoussaye. “Our kids played with heart all year long. In the locker room (at halftime) we were a little down but we knew if we could get that opening kickoff of the second half and score we’d get some momentum back.”

Along those lines, Delahoussaye made an offensive change to start the second half. He decided to get out of the traditional offensive set and go into the Loreauville version of the highly popular Wildcat formation with Nick Julien at quarterback and freshman Tremaine Antoine at the running back position.

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The strategy worked as Loreauville (8-2, 4-1 District 6-2A) opened the second half with a drive that produced a touchdown to cut a 12-0 deficit to 12-7.

“We couldn’t move the ball in the first half,” said Delahoussaye. “We went to the Wildcat. It’s worked for us in the past.”

But Jeanerette (7-3, 3-2), which controlled the ball in the first half in building a 12-0 lead, drove down to the Loreauville 1-yard line before running back Wendell Hunt fumbled the ball on third down and the LHS defense recovered.

The turnover would be a recurring theme as Jeanerette turned the ball over four more times in the second half.

“Jeanerette gave us a few breaks with a couple of turnovers,” said Delahoussaye. “I’m not going to take away anything from them, but they helped us out.”

“It was a good game,” said Jeanerette coach Terry Washington. “We had our opportunity down at the 1-yard line and the kid was trying to make a play at get into the end zone and he fumbled it away.

“It’s unfortunate for the young man to go through something like that, but it’s going to make him stronger.”

While Loreauville couldn’t capitalize on that turnover, it set in motion everything else that happened for LHS.

Senior linebacker Jake Delcambre picked off two passes in the fourth quarter, the second of which set up the game-clinching score from quarterback Ross Durke with just over a minute left in the contest.

“I saw that No. 4 (Jeanerette running back Anthony Williams) was hurt so I knew they were going to the passing game a little more,” said Delcambre. “I dropped back into my zone, saw the ball coming and got the pick.

“It was real down in the locker room at halftime and I tried to pick them up. I knew that I had to get those interceptions to help my team win.”

Loreauville running back B.J. Greene, who sat out the third quarter, scored on a 58-yard run in the fourth quarter to give Loreauville its first lead of the game at 14-12 with just over three minutes left in the contest.

“The team played well all night and I really didn’t do anything,” said Greene. “So I had to do something to help the team. It was a trap play, I got the ball, my receivers had their blocks and when I got to the secondary I knew I had a touchdown.”

“He had fresh legs,” said Delahoussaye. “I kept him out in the third quarter so he’d have fresh legs in the fourth.”

The duel between Greene and Williams, two of the top running backs in the state, never materialized as each finished the game with 78 yards and a touchdown.

Instead, it was the five second-half turnovers from Jeanerette, including four in the final quarter, that decided the issue.

Those miscues in the second half took away from Jeanerette’s 365-yard offensive performance, more than double Loreauville’s offensive output (180 yards), including 219 passing yards and one touchdown from senior quarter Kendal Charles. The Tigers scored twice in the first half to build a 12-0 lead at the break.

Williams, who was injured in the first half on a missed 2-point conversion after a touchdown, didn’t play much in the second half and was not much of a factor in the game.

“It wasn’t anything that they did in the second half,” said Washington. “We self-destructed. With five turnovers in the second half, you’re not going to beat anybody. That killed us.”

Both teams are expected to make the Class 2A playoffs which begin Friday. Jeanerette will be on the road in the first round while Loreauville may get a home first round playoff game if they earned enough points to move up from 22nd in the most recent power rankings into the top 16. Playoff pairing will be announced today.