Relentless rushing attack leads St. Martinville past Iota, 62-28

“I’m puzzled as to why college coaches are not knocking his door right now,” St. Martinville Tigers head coach Vincent Deroue said regarding his quarterback’s performance In Friday’s playoff game.

Dual threat senior quarterback Tanner Harrison helped the No. 3 seeded Tigers run over the No. 19 Iota Bulldogs 62-28 in Friday night’s Class 3A playoff game in Iota.

Eight of St. Martinville’s nine touchdowns were rushing. Sophomore running back Steven Blanco had three rushing scores while Harrison had two more.

“Our blockers did a great job creating space for us at the first and second levels so we have time to make our move,” Harrison said.

Derouen stuck with the relentless ground games to move into the state quarterfinal round.

“We always tell them the ball doesn’t get heavy,” St. Martinville head coach Vincent Derouen said. “We are going to keep feeding them. Both those kids really work hard in practice and our offensive line creates a lot of situations so they (Blanco and Harrison) can do what they do best.”

Harrison had an excellent night throwing the football as well. He showcased his arm strength with a 64-yard passing touchdown to sophomore wide receiver Cullen Charles.

“I feel like no one can guard my receivers,” Harrison said. “I feel like they are the best because they are the best. So I always feel like they are open.”

Harrison’s talents kept the Bulldogs off balance all night.

“We don’t want to be one dimensional,” Derouen said. “If they take away something we can go to our Plan B,”

Defensively for St. Martinville, things started off a bit rocky after holding a 14-0 early in the first quarter. Iota was able to turn the game around briefly and even go out front 21-20 to start the second quarter.

That was Iota’s first and only lead of the game.

St. Martinville’s defense did not allow another score until less than three minutes remaining in the game. The Tigers also intercepted Iota which led to a 14-yard touchdown run by Harrison.

“It was just the breaks of the game early on, I’m glad they buckled down because most of our mistakes were just brain cramps,” Derouen said. “It wasn’t anything physical, just some stuff mentally, we weren’t focused. But, once we focused we worked pretty good and they scored on our JV (junior varsity) at the end.”

Penalties were St. Martinville’s worst enemy in the first half of the game. It seemed like every big play they made was called back for a penalty. But, they were able to clean it up in the second half.

“Work on technique, just like we do at practice,” Derouen told his team at halftime. “It seemed like it started to work for us at the end.”

St. Martinville will continue their playoff journey on their home field as they welcome the Lutcher Bulldogs next week.