The undefeated St. Thomas More Cougars handled business last Friday when they beat Denham Springs 35-3. Next up for legendary head coach Jim Hightower and his team were the North Vermilion Patriots, who have two wins on the season compared to STM’s five. The Cougars would score early and often as they defeated North Vermilion 54-0 and remained undefeated on homecoming night.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
North Vermilion won the coin toss and decided to defer to the second half. Quarterback Sam Altmann tried to go deep a couple of times and would have to convert on fourth down to keep the drive alive. Running back Gabe Mocek would carry the ball into the endzone from four yards out to give the Cougars the early lead.
The STM defense would force a three-and-out and their offense would drive down the field. Altmann completed passes to a few different receivers including Hutch Swilley who would take the swing pass 11 yards for the second touchdown of the opening period.
After another punt by the Patriots, Altmann and the STM offense only needed one play as he would give his man Landon Strother a chance deep. The pass was completed for a 40-yard score and St. Thomas More went up 21-0 with 2:10 left in the first quarter.
The Patriots had a promising drive going before getting stopped by the Cougars. Altmann would take it himself from 11 yards out to put St. Thomas More up by four scores with 7:24 left in the first half.
With less than five minutes to go in the second quarter, Cade Wilkerson would take a reverse run across the field for the 31-yard score as STM went up by 35.
Swilley had some tough runs late in the final drive of the first half for STM including a 15-yard touchdown run that put the Cougars up 41-0 after the PAT was no good. North Vermilion would get one more possession and went for a fake punt but the play was stopped short of the first down as we went to halftime.
Coming out of the half, North Vermilion would receive the football but the ball bounced off of the return man’s chest as the Cougars would recover. Mocek would carried the ball a couple of times and would score for the second time tonight, this time from eight yards out. The PAT was missed again as STM went up by 47 and triggered the running clock.
The Patriots coughed up the ball a couple drives later that set up the Cougars early in the fourth quarter. Running back Blake Caillet made it a 54-0 game with six minutes left on a touchdown from 14 yards away.
North Vermilion got one more possession but couldn’t get anything going as STM improved to 6-0 on the season.
BIG NUMBER: 1
There was a lot of scoring coming from STM on Friday night but big credit to their defense who allowed the offense of the Patriots to cross midfield once throughout the game.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Sam Altmann
Coach Jim Hightower wasn’t afraid to let his QB sling it as he completed 10/15 passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran it in himself for an 11-yard score as STM improved to 6-0 with a 54-0 win over North Vermilion.
UP NEXT: The STM Cougars will stay home and host the Northside Vikings next Friday at 7:00 p.m. and the action can be heard on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette. The Patriots of North Vermilion will travel next Friday to play the Westgate Tigers at 7:00 p.m.