AHS wins and in good shape for playoff berth

NEW IBERIA — The Abbeville Wildcats put themselves in contention for a playoff bid with a 7-0 win over the Westgate Tigers Friday in a game played in heavy rain at Westgate’s new on-campus stadium.
Regardless of the outcome of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s playoff pairings that will be announced Sunday, AHS head coach Gary Adkins said he is proud of the Wildcats for the effort they’ve shown all season in going 4-6 overall and 1-3 in District 5-4A.
“We’ve lost two or three really close ones here of late, and the thing that I’m so proud of is they kept working, kept coming to practice, kept lifting weights, never stopped,” Adkins said as his team celebrated the big win on the new artificial turf field at WHS. “This is kind of their payoff. Whether we make the playoffs or not, playoffs would be wonderful, obviously, but the main thing is I’m so proud of them because they never quit, they just stayed in there, never backed down and just kept working.”
The Wildcats couldn’t muster much offense Friday but didn’t need to, taking advantage of four turnovers and 156 yards in penalties against the Tigers (0-10, 0-4).
“I’m so happy for our boys,” Adkins said. “They’ve been through a lot at Abbeville the last two or three years, and to get here, 4-6 is a decent record, so we’ll take it.”
Westgate fumbled the ball away on its first two possessions, and Trey Joseph returned the second one seven yards to the WHS 36 to set up the game’s only TD. A 21-yard gain by Matt Johnson pushed the ball to the 15, and after a short run on the next play, Westgate was penalized three straight times for lining up in the neutral zone, giving Abbeville a first down at the 2.
Kavon Brown carried in from there two snaps later and Billy Arceneaux’s point-after made it 7-0 with 1:57 to go in the opening period.
Abbeville had only 23 total yards in the first half and 94 for the game with Brown gaining 61 and Johnson 49 on the ground, each on 12 carries.
That was good enough to beat the Tigers, who continually shot themselves in the foot with 13 penalties and the four turnovers. Abbeville also took over on downs three times, including a fourth-down stop at the AHS 8-yard line with 5:19 to go in the first half.
“(The defense) played so well,” Adkins said. “Offensively we struggled a little bit. I don’t know if it was the weather or what it was. I knew we weren’t going to score a lot of points. But the defense played really well. They’ve been playing really well the whole year, to be honest.”
Abbeville marched to the Westgate 19 on the ensuing drive behind Brown’s 39-yard run up the right sideline but fumbled the ball away at the 23. Westgate gave the ball back six plays later when the snap on a punt was low and the Wildcats recovered the ball.
A field-goal try from 26 yards out six plays later was blocked, keeping the score 7-0.
WHS coach Ryan Antoine said he was proud of the way his team refused to give in despite being winless on the year.
“We haven’t won a game and our kids are coming out here and fighting their tails off, and never taking a play off,” Antoine said. “It hurts, but hat’s off to them for going out here and playing every down like it’s their last.”
Westgate had one final chance to even the score after an eight-play drive for Abbeville ended a yard short of a first down at the WHS 20 with 2:31 to go.
The Tigers completed a 20-yard pass to the 40 but drew three penalty flags on the next snap and faced a first-and-35 at the 15. A roughing the passer penalty gave Westgate a first down at the 42 but the drive ended on downs at the 45 and Abbeville ran out the clock.
Adkins said he was proud of the character his team showed. The ‘Cats were penalized only four times to Westgate’s 13.