The Sulphur High Tors looked like they would pull the upset at Matt Walker Memorial Stadium on Friday, but the Class 5A No. 3 Barbe Bucs turned a late fumble into the winning touchdown to win 14-7 in another classic game in the Sulphur/Barbe rivalry.
“I realized after this game how this group can lay it on the line like that,” Sulphur head coach Paul Bourgeois said. “They played with heart.
“We just played toe-to-toe with the team that beat the No. 1 team in the state (last week). They have to realize how good we are and that they need to recover and get on our winning track and get ourselves into the playoffs. I think that some real good things can happen.”
Other than the late fumble, the Sulphur Tors seemed to do everything right up to that point.
The Tors defense held the Bucs (7-0, 3-0) to 260 yards which was 100 yards below their season average and harassed Buc quarterback Eric Cutrera all night sacking him three times and holding him to just 160 yards passing. Cutrera came into the game averaging over 200 yards per game as one of the top passers in the state.
“They had a heck of a challenge in this game,” Bourgeois said. “Barbe probably throws the ball as good as anybody in the state. It is great to brag on our defensive staff and Coach Fusilier and also our secondary and the rest of the defense.
“They had quite a few sacks on him (Eric Cutrera). I think that he is one of the best quarterbacks in the state and to be able to sack him several times I though was wonderful.”
The Tors (4-3, 0-2) piled up 286 yards of total offense behind a career night by junior quarterback Garrett McCain’s 220 yards passing and Dylan Stitzlein’s seven catches for 116 yards. But Sulphur could not get their running game going as the Bucs’ held them to 66 yards on the ground.
“What I like about it is the maturity he (McCain) showed by sticking in the pocket with all the rushing,” Bourgeois said. “With that type of defense with five or six secondary people and he is throwing in between there so I thought he handled the game very well. He (Stitzlein) deserves any kind of credibility that he gets with him going up like he does no matter what the traffic is. I thought that it was great that he handled a lot of those big situations line third and long and made big plays.”
With the scored tied 7-7 and 9:55 remaining in the game, the Tors forced the Bucs to go four and out and got the ball back on their own 29 yard line after the punt.
The Tors ate up the clock as they moved down the field reaching the Bucs 39 yard line over eight plays and converting on third down twice. But on first and 10 from Barbe’s 39-yard line, Sulphur’s Calvin Peco Jr. fumbled the ball and Barbe’s Logan Hamilton recovered his second fumble of the game to give the Bucs one more chance with 6:25 left in the game.
Barbe’s Eric Cutrera completed two passes to Kevin Berard to open the drive but three plays later the Tors had the Bucs facing a fourth and four to go on the Sulphur 33 yard line.
Cutrera found Ernest Celestine for a nine-yard pass and again two plays later for a 25-yard completion to the Tors two-yard line.
Sulphur’s defense again stiffened up and stopped Celestie from jumping over the pile on his first attempt but Celestie scored from one yard out on the next play to give the Bucs a 14-7 lead with 1:50 remaining.
Sulphur got the ball back on their own 12-yard line after the kickoff with just under two minutes. McCain connected with Will Hassien for a six-yard gain to start the drive and threw another pass to Kadeem Jacobs on fourth and four for 12 yards.
A face mask penalty on Barbe moved the Tors to their own 35 yard line and on second and 10 McCain found Stitzlein for a 41 yard gain in heavy traffic that would have put the Tors at Barbe’s 24 yard line. But the play was called back on the Tors fourth holding penalty of the night.
Sulphur got another 15-yard reception out of Jacob. But on fourth and 10 from their own 35, Stitzlein’s pass on a double reverse was intercepted by Barbe’s Janzen Jackson as time expired.
The game was a defense battle from the beginning as both teams were forced to punt on their first two possessions of the game.
After the Tors punted to open the second quarter, Barbe got the ball back on their own 28 but ran into some penalty problems and that cost them 23 yards.
Faced with a fourth and 17 at the Tors 46 yard line, Cutrera faked the punt and threw a 22-yard pass to Korey King for the first down.
The Bucs drew first blood on the next play as Cutrera raced down the far sideline for a 24-yard touchdown to but Barbe up 7-0 with 9:14 left in the second quarter.
The Tors responded with a 13-play drive and taking nearly eight minutes off the clock that was capped by a three yard score by junior fullback Allen Joseph.
The Tors converted on third down three times during the drive including a 37-yard reception by Stitzlein that put Sulphur on the Bucs’ 13-yard line.
Barbe got the ball back with 1:23 left in the first half and got a 42 yard kickoff return from Celestie to the Tors’ 32 yard line.
The Bucs’ got as close as the Tors’ four yard line but Celestie was dropped for a five yard loss by Justin Dowers and lost another five yards on an illegal procedure.
Dowers also picked off Cutrera near the end of the third quarter.
Barbe had to settle for a field goal attempt but Raphael Zahm 31 yard attempt went wide right and the first half ended in a 7-7 tie.
The Tors will not get a break this week as they will travel to Lafayette to face their second top-five team in a row on Friday when they play No. 4 Acadiana at 7 p.m.
Barbe 0 7 0 7–14
Sulphur 0 7 0 0–7
Stats
BHS SHS
1st Downs 13 14
Rushing 100 66
Passing 160 220
Passes 11-22-1 17-31-1
Total Yds. 260 286
Punts 4/35.5 4/29.5
Fum/lost 0/0 4/2
Pen. 6/57 4/45
TOP 21:12 26:48
Scoring
2nd quarter
BHS - Eric Cutrera 24yd run (Raphael Zahm xp good)
SHS - Allen Joseph 3yd run (Kai Ackley xp good)
4th quarter
BHS - Ernest Celestie 1yd run (Zahm xp good)
Individual Leaders
Rushing–Barbe: Cutrera 15-64, 1TD; Celestie 12-36, 1TD. Sulphur: Will Hassien 13-32; Joseph 11-25, 1TD; McCain 6-9.
Passing–Barbe: Cutrera 11-22-1 160yds. Sulphur: McCain 17-30-0 220yds; Dylan Stitzlein 0-1-1.
Receiving–Barbe: Michael Guillory 4-61; Celestie 4-55; Korey King 1-22; Kevin Berard 2-22. Sulphur: Stitzlein 7-116; Kadeem Jacob 7-68; Manny Busch 2-29; Hassien 1-6.
Records Barbe 7-0, Sulphur 4-3. Next: Barbe vs. St. Thomas More; Sulphur @ Acadiana.
Sulphur, La. —
