By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

Hahnville found itself in highly unfamiliar territory on Friday night – trailing in the fourth quarter. Aside from the Tigers one loss to Lutcher, Hahnville had won every other game this season by blowout margins.

The Gators wouldn’t go away as easy. But despite the late deficit, Hahnville persevered to move to 8-1 on the season, erasing a 21-20 St. Amant by scoring twice in the fourth quarter to capture a 35-21 District 6-5A victory.

The win, coupled with East St. John’s loss to Dutchtown, gave Hahnville (8-1, 4-0) at least a share of the district championship. This Friday night’s game at Hahnville between ESJ and the Tigers will determine if HHS will win it outright, or if the Wildcats can clinch a share of the crown.

Alfred Blue’s fourth score of Friday night’s game, a 4-yard run in the fourth quarter, gave Hahnville the lead for good. Lloyd Richard would cement the victory for HHS with a 69-yard rush later in the final period to put his team ahead by two scores.

That put St. Amant in comeback mode, not what the Gators’ option-based offense is built for.

“Our defense made adjustments, and our offense answered the call in the fourth quarter,” said Hahnville coach Lou Valdin. “We were in good shape once they had to throw every down. It isn’t what they want to do.”

Blue ran for 200 yards on 29 carries.

Valdin said his offense did a good job executing around the weather and field conditions on a rainy night.

“We didn’t run as much of our offense as normal,” said Valdin. “We ran it between the tackles and threw safe passes. I thought we did a good job of running what was available to us.”

St. Amant (5-4, 0-4) rushed for 213 yards against the Tigers, the second highest total allowed by HHS this season (behind Lutcher).

Blue put Hahnville ahead 20-0 in the first half with touchdown runs of 37, 10 and 69 yards.

St. Amant scored just before halftime on Tyler Guillory’s 18-yard scoring pass to Tre’ Vaughn.

“They were getting the second half kickoff, and they weren’t abandoning their gameplan. They didn’t panic,” said Valdin.

Then St. Amant played keep away. Hahnville ran only four offensive plays in the third quarter, thanks to the Gators ability to control the clock via two long scoring drives.

“They figured out how we were defending the option, and they adjusted,” said Valdin. “They just kept our offense on the sideline. We got the East St. John score in the locker room at halftime, so our guys were pretty fired up. They knew a win meant a share of the district title. But we just couldn’t get our hands on the ball.”

The first score of the second half came after the opening kickoff of the second half, and was capped by a Britton Day 6-yard run. The second was concluded in the fourth quarter on a Nelson Jointer 1-yard run – and that one gave St. Amant the lead after Justin Manton put the extra point up and through.

But Hahnville wouldn’t be deterred. Now, one final test in the regular season looms.

“It’s going to a typical East St. John/Hahnville extravaganza,” said Valdin. “Exciting, very close, big plays, crazy plays. You’ll see two well coached teams that play hard and have a lot of respect for one another.”