NEW IBERIA – In its first season playing in District 8-2A, the Lafayette Christian Knights are taking the district crown home to Lafayette after blowing past the Catholic High of New Iberia Panthers 33-10 on Friday night.
Lafayette Christian handled its new district well, beating each opponent by double figures, including defending District 8-2A champion Loreauville by 16 points in Week 8.
“Winning the district was important to us,” LCA coach Matt Standiford said.
On Friday night, the Knights were in control throughout, rushing the ball and hitting long pass plays on offense while not giving up a touchdown on defense.
“It was important for us to come out hot the way that we did tonight,” said Standiford said. “Really proud of the growth of our offense to go out and score that many points against a really good team. And the defense stepped up and played really well, even when they were put in some tough situations. We limited the big play, which was huge for us.”
After shutting down the Panthers offense on its first two possessions, the Knights offense went on a 51-yard touchdown drive highlighted by junior running back Kyzir White, who capped it off with a 3-yard rushing score. The extra point was blocked as LCA went on top 6-0 with 3:33 left in the first quarter.
Then, on its next drive, it only took one play for the Knights to score as junior quarterback Ty Hills found fellow junior tight end Wyatt Whitney wide open in the middle of the field. Whitney then raced 62 yards into the end zone. Another blocked extra point made the score 12-0 in favor of the Knights.
“During the week, we knew they weren’t really going to cover the middle of the field,” Whitney said. “So, we knew that if we could slip somebody out to the middle then it would only be just a matter of when we ran it.”
After the second quarter began, LCA scored on its third straight drive. This drive was highlighted by two plays – a Hills 2-yard run on fourth-and-1 and a 25-yard touchdown pass from Hills to Sophomore Micah Whitlock.
After the extra point was successful, the Knights had a 19-0 lead with nine minutes left until halftime.
The Panthers made a run, however, with its special teams. With nearly four minutes left in the first half, Junior defensive back Noah Cavagnaro picked up a high snap over punter Whitney’s head and returned it 49 yards for a touchdown.
Then down 19-7, Panthers senior kicker James Chauvin drilled a 32-yard field goal after five seconds were added back to the clock following a drive that finished off the first half.
“Obviously, there are still some things we need to clean up on special teams,” Standiford said. “At the end of the day, I’m really proud of how we handled ourselves, especially to start the third quarter with all the chaos to end the first falf.”
The Knights came out in the Second Half determined to blow the game open, expanding its 19-10 halftime lead with a 2-yard touchdown run by senior RB/LB Kaleb Simon to make it 26-10.
Then, the LCA defense bent but didn’t break as they forced a turnover on downs when Catholic – New Iberia failed to convert on 4th down at the LCA 10.
The Knights offense then went 90 yards on the ensuing drive. White capped it off with a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 33-10 in favor of LCA. On the night, White finished with 120 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground. He was quick to give praise to the big men blocking up front for him.
“My O-Line, individually, all did their job and we executed really well tonight,” White said. “The coaches mixed up the play-calling really well and we did what we needed to do.”
Defensively, sophomore defensive back Major Derouen led the Knights with nine tackles and sophomore linebacker Triston Alexander finished with seven tackles and a sack.
With the win, the Knights also locked in a bye through the first week of the Division III Select Playoffs.
“It’s a big advantage for us getting to play at home and getting some more time to rest,” White said.
“The bye is huge,” Standiford said. “It gives us a chance to rest and prepare for whatever opponent we might face. The biggest thing is it gives us a chance to work on ourselves. I’m super proud of our guys for earning that opportunity.”
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