Abbeville falls to Rayne, 32-9

RAYNE - In a game involving two teams seemingly headed in different directions, the Rayne Wolves controlled the game, beating the Abbeville Wildcats 32-9.
Abbeville, coming off of two straight shutout losses, put an end to that streak, scoring their first touchdown of the season.
The Wolves scored the first touchdown of the evening on a 1-yard run by sophomore Deontrey Wilridge with 7:03 left in the first quarter.
Abbeville scored its first points of the season in the second quarter with a 20-yard field goal by Billy Arceneaux with 3:55 left before halftime.
Rayne responded quickly, only letting 44 seconds tick off of the clock before quarterback Jalen Reed connected on a 53-yard touchdown pass to senior Trevon Fontenot. A failed PAT, gave the Wolves a 13-3 lead.
Rayne was able to strike again just before halftime when Reed found tight-end Troy Breaux for a 9-yard score to give the Wolves a 19-3 advantage at halftime.
The offensive onslaught from Rayne continued when Reed threw his third touchdown pass, connecting with Fontenot again, this time from 28 yards away to widen Abbeville’s deficit to 25-3.
The Wildcats’ first touchdown of the season occurred with 34 seconds remaining in the third quarter when running back Malik Small broke loose and took it 89 yards for the score to cut the deficit to 25-9.
Wilridge ended the scoring for both teams with a 3-yard run.
The vaunted Wolves rushing attack was held in check for the most part by the Abbeville defense. Rayne rushed for over 400 yards in week 1, and close to 300 yards last week, but Rayne was only able to rush for 208 yards on 50 attempts against the Wildcats.
Abbeville’s running game finally got on track, earning 137 yards. Small led the way for the Wildcats with 103 yards on five carries with a touchdown. Matt Johnson added 22 yards on eight attempts, and Demarcus Collins chipped in with 22 yards as well on three carries.
Quarterback Bryce Melancon went 3-for-18 for 40 yards and he threw three interceptions.
With the pressure of getting their first points of the season out of the way, Abbeville can focus on their week 4 matchup against Port Barre next Friday.