ST. MARTINVILLE -- Last year, St. Martinville Senior High went down to Eunice to face the Bobcats in a spring scrimmage and came away on the wrong end of a 35-0 loss in a game-type situation.

Tuesday night, the Bobcats paid the return trip and walked out of SMSH stadium with a hard-fought 7-6 win, but only because of a missed extra point.

The two Class 4A powers collided at the end of spring drills in a two hour scrimmage with the first hour devoted to junior varsity and the second hour spent playing two 10 minute halves in a game-type scenario.

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“I saw good things and I saw things that we need to improve on both sides of the ball,” said St. Martinville coach Marc Broussard. “Most importantly what I saw was the time and effort we put in the weight room has been paying off.

“We’ve gotten stronger. We’ve been working hard since November and I expected us to improve in that area.

“As far as the techniques of blocking and tackling, we need to get better there.”

It was a rough start for the Tigers as Eunice opened the scrimmage on offense and in the first 15 plays scored three touchdowns against SMSH’s defense which consisted of mostly the junior varsity with a few first-teamers thrown in.

But the Tigers didn’t give up and showed some offensive spark of their own as Eddie Cormier scored on a 70-yard touchdown run and Silas Potier added a 20-yard touchdown catch from Max Oubre.

“The spring was what I expected it was going to be,” said Broussard. “Of course, a coach is never satisfied.

“This time last year we lost 35-0 to Eunice and this year we made it a little more competitive and a little more respectable. I’m going to have to go back and watch the film to really critique and break it down.”

In the second hour of the scrimmage, the two first team units went after each other. Eunice took the first drive and drove 70 yards, running off most of the 10 minute half in the process.

In the second half, St. Martinville’s offense opened with the ball but fumbled the possession, giving the Bobcats the ball deep in SMSH territory.

But the Tigers’ defense held Eunice out of the end zone and the EHS kicker missed a field goal attempt at the end of the drive.

On its second possession of the half, St. Martinville took the ball the length of the field and quarterback Jules Tripeaux scored on a one-yard run on a fourth-and-goal play with 1:30 left in the half but the Tigers missed the point after touchdown.

Eunice was able to run out the clock for the 7-6 win.

“I told the guys after the game the biggest thing we need to improve on is conditioning,” said Broussard.

“We’re there but we need to work hard on conditioning this summer to be able to go four quarters.”

Lance Charles led SMSH in the scrimmage with 5 carries for 62 yards and Bryson Mallery had 3 totes for 19 yards.