Acadiana ground game too much for Comeaux, 49-13

LAFAYETTE — Leading rusher sidelined by injury and in street clothes? No problem for Acadiana’s Wreckin’ Rams.

Not as long as Jaylen James keeps making highlight-reel plays, Dillon Monette keeps wearing down defenses, and the Ram defense keeps holding opponents in check.

Acadiana got all three Friday night, scoring on all four of its first-half possessions and rolling up 411 rushing yards in an efficient 49-13 District 3-5A win over Comeaux.

Very little went right for the Spartans, including a lighting-system failure four plays into the game that caused a 20-minute delay at Spartan Stadium. And when the full lights did come back on, the Rams shone much more brightly.

“They gave us a lot of short fields and we were able to take advantage,” said Acadiana coach Ted Davidson. “But speed kills. Our speed took over. We’ve got some really quick guys back there.”

Even with leading rusher Ziggy Francis out, the Ram attack never missed a beat. James, Monette and Kablin Shelvin each scored two touchdowns and Acadiana (6-0, 3-0) had six different backs gain 25 or more yards.

James, especially, provided what he called a “Ziggy moment” midway through the third quarter when he appeared to be stopped for a short gain on a second-and-20 at the Comeaux 22. Instead, he broke loose from the grasp of two Spartans near the right sideline, leaving one with a handful of number 2 white jersey, and shook off one final tackler near the goal line on a 22-yard scoring run that provided a 35-7 lead.

“That was my Ziggy moment,” said James, who finished with 123 rush yards and also had Acadiana’s first touchdown on a seven-yard first-quarter burst. “My boy Ziggy wasn’t out there tonight, so I had to pull a Ziggy move.”

James went straight to the sideline after that second-half touchdown and sought out Francis to join in the celebration.

“All our backs are kinda small, so they don’t get banged around a lot,” said Davidson, whose team has outscored its last five opponents by a 209-53 margin.

“Having all of us that can go in there, that gives us more time to breathe,” James said. “We keep each other pumped up.”

Monette did his pumping late in the game, getting 74 of his game-high 141 rushing yards on his final two carries. His 37-yard tackle-breaking burst with 1:32 left in the third quarter made it 42-7, and Shelvin added a 19-yard score with 8:30 left to end a two-play, 56-yard march that Monette opened with another 37-yard run.

The Ram rushing attack averaged nearly nine yards per carry, with the 411 yards coming on only 47 rushes. To add to the efficiency, quarterback Jaylon Borel hit all three of his first-half passes incluing a 43-yard stroke to Hunter Tabb in the final minute. Two plays later, Borel found Tabb wide open on the back line of the end zone to give the Rams a 28-7 halftime lead.

Comeaux (3-3, 1-2) had shown life only moments earlier, when starting quarterback Tre Miller found Andrew Simon wide open on a 55-yard pass play on the first snap after Monette’s first score. Miller was hit hard on the play and left the game, but freshman backup Dyllon Monette completed three passes and finished the 85-yard march with an eight-yard scoring slant to Raekwon Helaire.

That was about the only highlight for the Spartans, who did drive 80 yards in the game’s final eight minutes before Monette hit tight end Jalon Johnson for a 29-yard score with 2:06 left.

Other than those two scoring marches, the Spartans never cracked Ram territory, and a fumble on the first play of the second half and a botched fake punt one series later put Comeaux in too deep a hole. The Spartans only had 89 offensive yards on their non-scoring possessions.

“We busted one coverage. Other than that, our defense played really well,” Davidson said. “They don’t get the credit they deserve. Everybody talks about the veer offense because it’s different, but we’ve got some guys playing really good defense. We held a good Barbe team out of the end zone for two and a half quarters last week (a 28-14 win over 3-5A’s other power team), and when you hold teams like we’ve been playing down, that’s saying something.”

Acadiana 49, Comeaux 13

First Quarter

ACAD – Jaylen James 7 run (Noah Anderson kick)

Second Quarter

ACAD – Kablin Shelvin 3 run (Anderson kick)

ACAD – Dillon Monette 4 run (Anderson kick)

COM – Raekwon Helaire 8 pass from Dyllon Monette (Chase Robertson kick)

ACAD – Hunter Tabb 6 pass from Jaylon Borel (Anderson kick)

Third Quarter

ACAD – James 22 run (Anderson kick)

ACAD – Dillon Monette 37 run (Anderson kick)

Fourth Quarter

ACAD – Shelvin 19 run (Anderson kick)

COM – Jalon Johnson 27 pass from Dyllon Monette (pass failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – ACAD: Jaylen James 13-123 2 TD, Dillon Monette 15-141 2 TD, Kablin Shelvin 6-37 2 TD, Jaylon Borel 7-49, Larryll Greene 4-27, Lucky Brooks 2-34. COM: Gabe Ardoin 7-36, Tre Harris 4-27, Eddie Flugence 6-13, Tyren Oshun 2-3, Jalon Johnson 1-2, Donovan Batiste 1-minus 2, Justin Chretien 1-minus 5, Dyllon Monette 7-minus 11.

PASSING – ACAD: Jaylon Borel 3-4-0, 60 yds., 1 TD, team 0-1-0. COM: Dyllon Monette 9-11-0, 79 yds., 2 TD, Tre Harris 4-4-0, 71 yds.

RECEIVING – ACAD: Hunter Tabb 2-49 1 TD, James 1-11. COM: Johnson 6-62 1 TD, Raekwon Helaire 2-12 1 TD, Jonathon Harris 2-10, Andrew Simon 1-55, Jaden Hamilton 1-6, Eddie Flugence 1-5.

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Records: ACAD 6-0, 3-0; COM 3-3, 1-2. Next: ACAD hosts Sam Houston Friday, COM at Lafayette High Friday.