The Sulphur Tors marched down the field on their opening drive Friday night, but St. Thomas More Cougars took over after that for a 31-13 over the Tors at Matt Walker Memorial Stadium.
With the win the Cougars evened the series over the last 10 years to 5-5.
Despite the lopsided loss to start the season, head coach Harold Fusilier is not ready to throw in the towel.
“We learned that in this league you have to be ready to play,” Fusilier said. “You can’t go through the motions.
“They just out played us. We have a lot of ball games to play. When we went to the State Finals we had lost four. At one point everything looked real bad then all of a sudden things started gelling. Football is a strange game. Good things can happen when you least expect it and sometimes you are real disappointed. I am disappointed like anyone would be. Our game play was to win. The kids will be alright. We will comeback and work hard next week.”
Sulphur started at their own 29-yard line on the opening drive and with a mixture of running and passing plays, they moved to the Cougars 35-yard line. But 2009 District 4-5A MVP safety Sam Scofield intercepted Sulphur’s Brice Gardiner and returned it to the Cougars’ 45-yard line. Defensive back Clay Caulkins also had an interception in the first half for the Cougars.
“We had our strategy down and stopped the run,” Scofield said. “In the second half we played man-up with our defensive backs. Our whole defense did a great job.”
It would be the last time the Tors would cross midfield until late in the fourth quarter. STM’s defense held the Tors to just 35 yards on the ground.
“They (STM) did a nice job of keeping the ball in front of them,” St. Thomas More head coach Jim Hightower said. “I was pleased with our secondary play.
“I thought that they did an excellent job of covering the receivers, knocking down the ball and contesting every ball that came near them.”
Sophomore defensive lineman Ashton Joseph dropped STM’s Joe LaPrairie for a loss twice and the Tors held the Cougars to just a 31-yard field goal by Don Oliver after the interception. They continued to hold strong through the first half with the Cougars’ only other score coming on a 10-yard run by Jonathan Juneau with 10 minutes left in the second quarter. The Cougars were forced to punt on their final two possession of the first half.
But having to stay on the field for so long started to catch up with the Tors defense in the second half. Sulphur seemed to have the Cougars stopped several times in the game but STM was able to convert on third down six times and on fourth once.
“I thought they (Sulphur) moved the ball well the first series but we moved the ball down there and got picked,” Fusilier said. “That happens.
“Then we turned around on defense and couldn’t seem to stop them. We had schemed a couple of things up and they worked great and then we had to play third down. They made some big plays and the third downs. Teams that convert on third down generally win football games and they converted a lot of third downs.”
Both teams traded four and outs to start the second half and the Tors averted disaster when Patrick Reagan 60-yard punt return for a touchdown was called back on a block in the back penalty.
But nine plays later, STM quarterback Matthew Flores scored from nine yards out to make it 17-0.
Elliot Hebert scored the next two touchdowns for the Cougars to give them a 31-0 lead with 7:50 left in the fourth quarter.
The Tors offense finally started to find their rhythm after that and avoided the shutout with two touchdowns. The Tors went almost exclusively to their passing game, as they picked up 132 of their 201 passing yards in their final two drives of the game.
“I thought that at the end they got into a little rhythm,” Fusilier said. “We got a little better field position and that helps.
“I don’t think that the offense performed that poorly.”
The Tors offense did not fumble the ball all game. Sulphur had just four penalties for 20 yards.
After Brian Walker returned a kickoff 43 yards to midfield the Tors scored nine plays later on a one-yard pass to Keith Jasmine from Brice Gardiner.
Sulphur’s next score was set up by a 63-yard reception by Dentzel Brown who also finished off the drive with a 22-yard reception for a touchdown from Gardiner.
Although he threw two interceptions in the first half, Gardiner had a solid debut as the Tors’ quarterback. He completed 24 of 36 passes for 201 yards and two touchdowns. Brown finished with five receptions for 105 yard and a touchdown.
Despite 75 yards in penalties, the Cougars finished with 348 total yards with 200 coming on the ground. Flores led STM’s ground game with 99 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown. Fellow quarterback Brandon Bergeron threw for 132 yards while completing 12 of 17 passes.
“We made some big plays and I was pleased with the way our ball carriers got us up the field,” Hightower said. “I thought that our line played pretty well.
“They were getting on people but we have to eliminate a lot of penalties. Hopefully those will be easy things to fix.”
The Tors will be at home next week looking for their first win of the season when they take on Class 2A powerhouse Evangel Christian Academy at 7 p.m.
St. Thomas More will host Zachary next week.
