By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

BOUTTE — Hahnville’s scheduled home game with Vandebilt Catholic for Friday night has been cancelled due to the deaths of four VCHS students.

17-year old T.J. Cantrelle, 17-year old Gabrielle Hebert, 17-year old Megan Hitt and 15-year old Ian Haydel passed away in a tragic automobile accident Sunday morning.

Cantrelle was the starting quarterback of the Terriers’ football team; Haydel was its starting free safety.

Hahnville coach Lou Valdin said that he and Vandebilt coach Laury Dupont mutually agreed to cancel the game.

“We left it up to them. When Coach Dupont called me, he told me they couldn’t play,” said Hahnville coach Lou Valdin. “They have four funerals, and it just couldn’t happen. Any time a child dies, you see a tragic accident like this … it tears the school community apart. Our sympathies go out to them and the families of those children.”

The game was to be Hahnville’s homecoming game. Valdin said that homecoming festivities will go on as planned, and that the homecoming queen will likely be recognized at the one of its final two home games.

For this week, Valdin said his team will concentrate on getting back to fundamentals in lieu of a game, and begin preparing for its district opener against East Ascension.

“It’s a chance for us to get back to basics without preparing for an opponent, something you don’t get to do at this time of year,” said Valdin. “We’ll look at little bit at EA this week, but mostly we’ll concentrate on improving ourselves.”