Panthers claw up Tigers, 35-22

OLLA — Delcambre’s Panthers and their fans were all wet and all smiles. It was raining on their parade, so to speak, and no one seemed to mind.

Not the players, who had just wrapped up a convincing 35-22 Class A bi-district state playoff victory Friday night over LaSalle High School. Certainly not the estimated 350-400 fans and band members who filled the visitor’s section after traveling nearly three hours from Delcambre to cheer in intermittent rain the Panthers, who will be at home the next time they appear in the playoffs.

Delcambre, 8-2 overall, plays host to once-beaten Delhi Charter in a regional contest in the friendly confines of Panther Stadium in Delcambre. Delhi Charter, 10-1 overall, roared into the next round with a 49-6 demolition of arch-rival Delhi.

The Panthers never trailed in the high school football program’s first postseason outing since 1999.

“It was a heckuva effort on our kids’ part,” Panthers head coach Darcy Delcambre said soon after his postgame speech near a soggy midfield to a mass of happy players, cheerleaders and so many orange-clad fans.

The veteran coach had just watched his defense thoroughly dismantle a spread offense, knocking the starting quarterback into la la land in the process and harnessing a dangerous running back, and his offense ratchet up a running attack that got so much attention that two of the visitor’s three pass completions went for touchdowns.

“We made a few mistakes. Our quarterback got knocked silly — he couldn’t even remember the plays,” LHS head coach Derek White said. “We fought. You’ve got to give them (Panthers) credit. They came out and whipped us. They did good.”

Nursing a 14-7 lead at halftime, the Panthers apparently had the Fighting Tigers right where they wanted them. It didn’t seem to matter that LaSalle responded to a halftime pep talk of its own, took the second half and marched 55 yards in 11 plays and tied the scored 14-14 on quarterback Derek White’s 1-yard plunge.

Delcambre responded with an inspired effort that included two huge plays — a 39-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Chris “Tipper” Esponge to Tyler Clemons on the ensuing series, and a key interception a few minutes later by Tyler Hotard at the DHS 33.

“We’re a second half team,” said Jorey Renard, Delcambre’s leading rusher with 106 yards on 18 carries. “Our defense definitely stepped it up and we shut them down.”

Esponge agreed and said, “We’re pretty much a second-half team. We knew we would have to play hard and it wasn’t going to be easy. It was a challenge and we stepped up.”

Delcambre challenged them just before taking the field for the third quarter.

“We just weren’t playing the way we should have been playing in the first half and that’s what we talked about at halftime. We told them to play our football game, which is what they did,” he said. “We told our offesnive line they had to get it rolling. We told the defense we had to play more aggresive, which we weren’t doing in the first half.”

Esponge’s second scoring pass of the game rocked the Tigers, who finished 8-3 overall, and the interception by Hotard sealed the deal.

The Panthers faced third-and-one at the LHS 39. Delcambre’s coaches called for a play-action pass called a “waggle,” Esponge said.

“They were trying to stop the run. They took the fullback away and that opened it up for Jorey and Lane (running back Lane Reaux),” Darcy Delcambre said.

“It was third-and-short and we already had decided we were going for it on fourth down. We made a decision to go ahead and throw it and see what happens.”

What happened was the Tigers bit hard on a fake to the fullback, Esponge dropped back and threw far downfield to his left to Hotard. No Tiger was within 20 yards of the Panther.

“He was wide open. It was just great execution and we make a great play. We don’t throw it a lot but I can trust my receivers,” Esponge said.

“Tipper does a great job managing the offense. He took care of business ... that’s the main thing,” Darcy Delcambre said.

The touchdown made it 21-14, Delcambre. The best was yet to come.

White, LaSalle’s quarterback, had gotten his bell rung earlier and heard it ringing again on the next series.

After running back Kenneth Smith took a direct snap on the first play of the fourth quarter, as he had done with the quarterback out in the first half, sophomore quarterback Joey Dupree came in on third-and-nine with the Tigers at the LHS 48.

“I saw the quarterback rolling out.

“They (Panthers) tried to sack him and he got loose and he chunked it up there.

“I dove and caught it before it hit the ground,” Hotard said about his interception.

“We’ve got him (Hotard) playing free safety for that reason right there. He’s got speed and he’s got a nose for the ball,” Darcy Delcambre said.

“That was a big momentum shift righ there.”

The Delcambre crowd was rocking in the stands and the players were responding.

Delcambre’s running game shifted into another gear with Renard and Breaux. The former padded the Panthers’ lead to 27-14 on Renard’s 19-yard gallop with 6:30 remaining on the clock and the latter scored an insurance touchdwn on a 3-yard plunge after Esponge kept 19 yards to the LHS 3.

“Damn, here we go!” Darcy Delcambre said as he ran along the sideline after his quarterback’s long run.

Following the touchdown burst, Esponge rolled left and shovel passed a two-point conversion to Hotard.

“We’ve been working on that all week!” Darcy Delcambre said.

A missed tackle in the open field after a medium-range pass allowed LaSalle to score on a 62-yard pass with less than two minutes to play that, coupled with a two-point conversion run by Matthew Deveaux, cut the deficit to 35-22.

But Delcambre’s Brenn Renard easily recovered the onside kickoff and fell on it.

Delcambre’s band struck up a top-notch rendition of “na na nah nah, hey hey” as the offense ran out the clock.