LOREAUVILLE �” Loreauville High School’s last hurrahs of the 2009 prep football season hardly took the sting out of 29-12 loss Friday night in the first round of the state playoffs to Opelousas Catholic.

Those hurrahs in the waning minutes of the Class 2A bi-district showdown �” a rematch of a regular-season game Oct. 16 won by the OCHS Vikings in Opelousas �” stood out on a chilly night at Tiger Stadium. Tiger fans saw a glimpse of possible future spectacular plays when speedy freshman Jermaine Antoine turned two short- to medium-range passes from junior quarterback Ross Durke into long touchdowns sandwiched around the fourth and final touchdown by OCHS.

But those and 25 other passes thrown by the Tigers were proof of the Vikings’ dominance in the trenches, especially defensively where OCHS limited Loreauville to 69 yards on the ground, LHS head coach Trent Delahoussaye noted.

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“When you make us throw the football �- that’s not our strong point,” Delahoussaye said after the Tigers completed 8 of 27 passes for 147 yards but suffered three interceptions, including one on the last play of the game.

Loreauville’s head coach said the foe’s big defensive line overwhelmed the line of scrimmage and negated his team’s penchant for pulling linemen. B.J. Greene, Loreauville’s featured running back, managed 69 yards on nine carries.

Delahoussaye said, “They’re so physical up front.”

Visiting Vikings fans cheered most of the game as a stable of running backs ran behind a sizable offensive line for nearly 300 rushing yards. Seven Vikings, including junior quarterback Nick Artall, ran up and down the field.

Having so many capable running backs is a luxury, OCHS head coach Doug Guillory said.

“It enables us to keep them fresh. We don’t have one workhorse. We have small running backs, so we keep them fresh,” Guillory said.

Chandler Cart led the way with 106 yards on 16 carries, including the game’s first touchdown on a 1-yard plunge in the second quarter to make it 9-0. OCHS scored on a safety in the first quarter when Tigers punter Kyle Francois was smothered in his own end zone after an errant punt snap on fourth-and-7 at the LHS 17.

The Tigers, who finished 8-3 overall, played catch-up the rest of the way.

“They’re just a better football team. Our kids fought. We hung with them,” Delahoussaye said, “but they pound you and pound you and eventually wear you down. At the end of the game we were on our heels.”

Loreauville went backwards after the opening kickoff. The Tigers recovered two of their own fumbles on the first offensive series, including the one that led to the safety.

Another bad snap on the host’s next series set OCHS up at the LHS 41. But the Vikings went three-and-out and punted into the end zone.

Durke threw the first of his three picks on second-and-nine at the LHS 36. Cart made a diving catch for the interception that put OCHS in business at its own 43.

The Vikings marched 57 yards on 13 plays before Cart scored on the one-yard run at 9:49 in the second quarter.

“We kept them at two touchdowns (down) the entire night,” Guillory said. “They made some adjustments on defense to stop what hurt them the first time. We had to readjust.”

Delahoussaye said, “You can’t make mistakes early on in a ballgame against OC, a good football team like that.”

The OCHS defense pitched a shutout for three quarters. Then Durke and Antoine lit it up �- but it was too little, too late.

After OCHS surged ahead 16-0 on Nick Gobert’s 7-yard scoring run in the third quarter, the Tigers got one touchdown back when Durke’s pass over the middle went between two defenders going for the ball to Antoine, who finished the 67-yard touchdown pass with 8:55 to play.

Gobert ripped off a 46-yard scoring run on the ensuing series to make it 23-6 about three minutes later. The visitors tacked one more score on the board when Hunter Fontenot scored on a one-yard dive with 49.5 second to play, then took a knee on the PAT to make it 29-6.

Antoine and Durke hooked up again 20 seconds later for a 57-yard touchdown catch.

Delahoussaye lamented a key play in the third quarter when OCHS converted a third-and-13 from its own 21.

Fontenot hit over left tackle and raced 17 yards for the first down and the Vikings scored six plays later on a sweep around left end by Gobert.

“We make a stop right there and we get good field position and that’s it,” he said.

“We’re on a roll,” Guillory proclaimed after his 8-3 team earned a regional date with the John Curtis Patriots.