The Yellow Jackets (1-2) made up for all those flags with an offense that produced more than 350 rushing yards and a 6-for-8 passing performance from sophomore quarterback Jordy Joseph. The final tally, a 44-0 NISH win over West St. Mary at Franklin Senior High’s stadium.
“It wasn’t anything flashy,” said NISH coach Rick Hutson, noting that the Jackets kept their offense fairly simple.
  
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Each of Joseph’s completions went to a different receiver, including throws of 22 yards to Tyler Olivier and 30 yards to Harold Roberts on New Iberia’s game-opening possession. Even there, the Jackets were forced to overcome two penalties before they’d even gotten a snap off, a block in the back penalty on the opening kickoff and a false start before the first play.
That only meant NISH had to go 95 yards to score its first touchdown, which came at the 8:09 mark on a three-yard quarterback carry by Michael Lamothe.
New Iberia took advantage of a short punt that resulted from a high snap to score quickly on their second possession. On the first snap after the kick was returned to the West St. Mary 20, Joseph connected with Kyle Lamothe for 20 yards and the touchdown. The PAT by Benci Watkins made it 14-0 with 5:03 remaining in the first period.
“We looked good the first couple of series against Acadiana throwing the ball (two weeks ago),” said Hutson. “Last week, Jordy got a little tentative because he’d had a couple of interceptions the first game. I think he wasn’t trying to complete passes, he was trying not to throw interceptions. This week he did a good job finding the open receivers.”
Joseph finished with 134 passing yards and the TD. His other completions went for 13 yards to Dalario Austin and 28 yards to Tevin Archangel.
New Iberia’s defense also was dominant, flying to the ball for most of the night and limiting the Wolfpack (0-3) to 105 total yards. Explosive tailback Jerwone Keil was limited to 15 yards on eight rushes. The Jackets forced WSM to take a safety on the Wolfpack’s second possession after a high shotgun snap was eventually recovered by Keil for a 22-yard loss. Alvarez stepped out of the end zone on fourth down from the WSM 4, making it 16-0.
Another one-play scoring drive made it 23-0 following the free kick that went out of bounds. NISH tailback Uriah Joseph took the ball up the left sideline for 45 yards and the TD on the first snap following the kick, crossing the goal line at the 2:21 mark.
It took the Jackets only four plays to score on their next possession. Fullback Brennan White took a dive up the middle for 41 yards on the first play. Three runs by tailback Emanuel Harding got the ball the final 21 yards, including the four-yard scoring carry at the 10:01 mark that made it a 30-0 game, with the Watkins PAT.
NISH chewed up almost five minutes on its final possession of the half, with the two pass completions helping overcome three 10-yard penalties on the drive. Joseph sneaked over from the 1 following a 21-yard gallop by White that set up a first-and-goal play. The PAT at the 2:07 mark made it 37-0.
Harding led the Jackets with 124 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. Joseph had 75 yards on eight carries, all in the first half, and White had 61 yards on three totes.
“Everything looked good (in the running game),” said Hutson. “We didn’t have many negative yardage plays at all.”
WSM finally got some offensive momentum going at the start of the second half, marching to the NISH 11-yard line before a turnover ended the scoring threat. A 23-yard pass from Ricardo Francis to Demone Beasley kept the drive alive after a penalty set the Wolfpack back, and Francis hit Louis Green for another 16 yards to the NISH 11, but New Iberia defensive back Kaleb Burgess forced a fumble that Michael Lamothe fell on to snuff out the drive.
“At least at halftime we accepted the challenge and put together a couple of drives,” said Lockley. “But they ended in turnovers. That’s the mark of a young team.”
Lockley said he just told his team at halftime to try to be as positive as they could
NISH chewed up the rest of the third quarter to set up its final score, which came on a 10-yard carry by Harding on the second play of the fourth period. The Jackets sent in the backups on their final possession, with sophomore tailback Tevin Archon carrying eight times for 65 yards as the Jackets ran out the final 8:05.
“We watched new Iberia on film and they didn’t look like an 0-2 team,” said Lockley. “We played against a team that was physically better than us tonight.”
NISH plays host to Comeaux next week in its first home game of the season. The Wolfpack plays at Donaldsonville.
“Comeaux’s going to be 3-0 and they’re going to be playing with a lot of confidence,” said Hutson. “They run an offense similar to Acadiana. We have to play it a lot better than we did at Acadiana. This is a chance to get to 2-2 and get the season back where we want it to be going into district.”
Comments
Elodie Alvarez wrote on Oct 2, 2008 9:03 AM:
I've told you guys before, yall can do this. Yall just have to keep the faith and strive with all that you have, heart, mind, body and soul. It takes team work. Good Luck, I believe in you guys. Love Always and Lots Of Luck!!!
Elodie Alvarez "