North Vermilion Patriots almost pull-off upset in Church Point

CHURCH POINT — The North Vermilion Patriots fell short of their second straight first-round playoff upset Friday with a 25-16 loss on the road against the No. 5 Church Point Bears.
The Patriots scored first, but failed to capitalize on Church Point mistakes later in the game on the way to the season-clinching loss.
“We played hard,” said North Vermilion head coach Richard Prejean. “They left it on the field. I’m proud of these kids. We had a whole bunch of opportunities. They (Church Point) put the ball on the ground we just could not come up with a single fumble. It’s funny how the ball bounces. Hats off to Church Point.”
North Vermilion scored first on a 7-yard Dade Dieterich run to go up 7-0 late in the first quarter. After Connor Dupuy intercepted Troy Matte on Church Point’s next possession, The Patriots squandered the potential to take a two-score lead when Dieterich fumbled at the goal line where the Bears recovered.
“It was untimely,” Richard said. “He (Dieterich) was just trying to put the ball in the endzone. It was an effort play, wound up biting us in the butt because they stole the momentum going into halftime.”
Just before halftime, the Bears got on the board with a 3-yard touchdown run by Kylance Castille. The extra point was no good, so the Patriots went into halftime with a 7-6 lead.
In the third quarter, the North Vermilion defense stopped Church Point on a fourth-down fake punt attempt, which led to a 24-yard Dupuy field goal to give the Patriots a 10-6 advantage with a little under five minutes left in the third quarter.
From that point, Church Point scored 19 straight points, capped off by a Freddie Williams 14-yard touchdown with 2:34 left in the game to put the Bears up, 25-10.
Dieterich connected with Gavin Becker on a 5-yard touchdown pass as time expired.
The ball didn’t bounce our way early on,” said Church Point head coach J.C. Arceneaux. “We put it on the ground a couple of times, had some big penalties in crucial situations. We stepped up as a unit tonight.”
Dieterich led the Patriots with 42 yards rushing on 10 tries with a touchdown. He completed 14-of-21 passes for 155 yards and another touchdown. Dupuy had seven receptions for 77 yards and an interception on the defensive end.
Despite the loss, Prejean said his team overcame adversity during the season and the future is promising.
“We came together at a real good time,” he said. “Early in the season we lost three in a row to some good football teams, but we were on shaky ground at that point. The kids stuck together. We have a good young nucleus of kids coming back, so hopefully we can put something together in the offseason and come back strong next year.”
No. 5 Church Point advances to play No. 21 Iowa on the road next Friday.