MAURICE — For the last time this season, North Vermilion football coach Brett Blakey huddled up his team.
Not even persistent rains that fell throughout Friday’s Division II nonselect state quarterfinal could put a damper on what was still the Patriots’ finest hour.
“Like I told the guys, I can’t be upset about this,” Blakey said. “Yeah, we wanted to win and we’re never going to accept a loss. Everything that these kids showed this year was just amazing. As a head coach, whether it’s right not right, you get a lot of credit. I take none of it. It’s all these kids. I’m so proud of them. I’m super proud to be called their head coach.”
After posting consecutive upset wins to reach the school’s first state quarterfinal North Vermilion’s run in the Division II state nonselect playoffs came to a soggy conclusion 30-0 at the hands of No. 2 West Feliciana at Patriot Field.
“I have a lot of respect for North Vermilion and how they played,” West Feliciana football coach Hudson Fuller said. “They’re a gritty team.”
The Saints (12-0), which host No. 6 Lutcher in next Friday’s semifinal round, were also resourceful in difficult conditions that worsened throughout the game.
Quarterback Joel Rogers accounted for 167 yards and all four of his team’s touchdowns, turning a scoreless game late in the second quarter into his team’s first semifinal appearance in five years.
West Feliciana broke open the game in the last two minutes for a 16-0 halftime lead.
Rogers broke a tackle for a 24-yard gain on fourth-and-one and later kept around right end from 13 yards away on second-and-one for a 8-0 lead following his two-point pass to Jermarian Jackson. Rogers led the Saints with 97 yards on 11 carries and running back Je’Terrius Johnson added 77 yards on 12 attempts.
West Feliciana came up with its second turnover of the half when defensive tackle Chris Turner recovered Kiaron Rudd’s fumble at the Patriots’ 34 with 36 seconds showing.
The Saints didn’t waste any time and on first down, Rogers found Jeremy Fowler falling down in the end zone for a 34-yard touchdown and Rogers kept around right end for a 16-0 advantage.
“We’re going in 8-0,” Blakey said. “If we punt right there, I loved the way that our defense was playing at the time. If it’s 8-0 at halftime, we like where we’re at but for them to go up 16-0 and immediately opened the second half with a touchdown, that was tough to come back from. Our kids never quit. I love that about them.”
Rogers helped West Feliciana gain separation the 16-point halftime cushion. The Saints made it 23-0 on their first series of the third quarter when Rogers kept on a 17-yard score and added his third rushing touchdown – an 11-yard keeper – with 4:08 to play.
West Feliciana outgained North Vermilion 235 to 121 and its defense forced three turnovers to shutout the Patriots (6-7).
Fullback Tucker Denais led North Vermilion with 12 carries for 42 yards. The Pats held the ball for 12 of the game’s first 16 minutes, registering four of their seven first downs, but never got any closer than the Saints’ 42-yard line with quarterback Jag Broussard throwing an interception on his team’s second series.
“I was incredibly encouraged by our first two possessions, that first quarter flew by,” Blakey said. “Coming into the game we knew that we had to do that, possess the ball. Their special teams did a great job of making of have to drive almost 80 yards every time and in high school football it’s tough. You get to that 50, 60-yard range and things start to bog down, you start to make mistakes. It’s just tough. Great teams find ways to score right there, and good teams don’t.”