Acadiana and Lafayette Christian were the marquee matchup in Week 1 for Acadiana-area high school football, but it was all about Ju’Juan Johnson and the Knights tonight as LCA thrashed the Rams 61-38 at Bill Dotson Stadium.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Acadiana had the football to start the game, but on their third play from scrimmage, the Rams coughed up the football to give Lafayette Christian great field position for their first drive of the game.
Then, Ju’Juan Johnson did what Ju’Juan Johnson typically does.
On fourth down, he extended the play before finding Brennan Walker for a 40+ yard pitch and caught the touchdown to give the Knights an early 7-0 lead.
Acadiana answered immediately with a Cameron Monette 42-yard run on first down to give the Rams the ball inside the 35-yard line. Later in the drive, Monette capped it off with a two-yard run on 4th and goal, but a missed extra point kept LCA in front 7-6.
Later in the quarter, Tayden Collins found paydirt for the Wreckin Rams to make it a 12-7 game with a failed 2-point conversion.
LCA responded in the second quarter with a second touchdown on the night from Johnson, the LSU commit to make it 14-12 in favor of the Knights.
Later in the second quarter, Ezekiel Hypolite broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and found the edge before taking off on a 53-yard touchdown run followed by a two-point conversion to make it 20-14 Acadiana.
After that, it became the Ju’Juan Johson show. He ran it in from six yards out with 9:30 left in the first half to tie the game at 20-20. At the 4:56 mark, Johnson again scampered in from 16 yards away to give LCA the 27-20 advantage. Finally, with one minute to go in the first half, Johnson scored on his third straight rushing touchdown to make it 34-20 Knights.
Acadiana was able to cut into the lead with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Caden Dibetta to Jonah Gauthier, but another missed PAT kept it 34-26 at the half.
Johnson started the second half without missing a beat, running away from everyone on a 78-yard touchdown run to increase the LCA to 40-26. Acadiana answered by moving the ball deep into the red zone, but the Knights defense stood up on fourth and goal to keep the Rams from cutting into their lead once again.
Five minutes later, Johnson unloaded on an 84-yard strike to Trae Grogan to pad the Knights lead at 47-26. Minutes later, Tayden Collins scored from one yard out to shrink the gap down to 15 points, but Johnson and LCA would go to the air again, finding Grogan once again on a 76-yard strike to make the score 54-32.
Next possession for LCA, Jalen Noel got a house call on a 53-yard rush to make it 61-32 before Collins again found the endzone for Acadiana and made it 61-38, which would go on to be your final score.
BIG NUMBER: 61
Lafayette Christian hung 61 points on Acadiana in this Week 1 matchup, showing the rest of Acadiana that the Knights are a force to be reckoned with.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Ju’Juan Johnson
The LSU commit was outstanding with his eight-touchdown performance, including four touchdowns in the air and four on the ground to lead the Knights.