St. Thomas More Dominates El Dorado in Battle on the Border
Written by Charlie Beuttel
It was a beautiful evening as the Battle on the Border event kicked off at the historic Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana between the St. Thomas More Cougars from Lafayette, Louisiana and the El Dorado Wildcats from El Dorado, Arkansas.
St. Thomas More dominated from the opening kickoff as they scored on their opening possession. El Dorado received the opening game kickoff but their drive ended with them punting from deep inside their own territory. The punt was shanked and the Cougars started their first drive on the El Dorado 29 yard line. Five plays later, quarterback William Bellamy threw a 17 yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Jamison Thibodeaux to give St. Thomas More an early 7-0 lead.
With three minutes remaining left in the first quarter after another El Dorado punt, Trevon Reed plowed his way into the end zone from three yards out to give St. Thomas More a 14-0 lead.
After a three yard run by Evan Trahan and a 25-yard field goal by Bailey Raborn, St. Thomas More led 24-0 at the intermission.
Two minutes into the third quarter, William Bellamy scored from eight yards out to extend the Cougars lead to 31-0.
At this point, St. Thomas More started to put in back-ups but that did not stop their offensive production as Matthew Gardner hit Griffin Hebert on a 36-yard pass play to put them 38-0.
El Dorado’s running back Kawon Love finally broke through St. Thomas More’s lockdown defense to score the Wildcats first points late in the third.
St. Thomas More’s defense shutdown El Dorado’s offense for most of the game and forced them to fumble four times. Midway through the fourth quarter, senior linebacker Ethan Broussard scooped up El Dorado’s fourth fumble and ran it in the end zone from 11-yards out to give St. Thomas More their final touchdown.
With two minutes left, El Dorado’s Daruis Holley ran it from 1-yard out to give the Wildcats their final score.
St. Thomas More’s offense was balanced in the blowout as the Cougars finished with 182 rushing yards and 185 passing yards. Evan Trahan was the leading rusher for the team as he finished with 77 yards. Quarterback William Bellamy completed 14 of 29 passes for 142 yards.
El Dorado was led by senior Kawon Love who finished with 110 rushing yards on 18 carries, 38 receiving yards and a touchdown. Quarterback John Sixby completed 10 of 22 passes and finished with 111 passing yards.
With the win, St. Thomas More has now won for the third straight year at the event while El Dorado lost for the second consecutive time.
Photo credit: usatoday.com; El Dorado tries to pick up yards against St. Thomas More’s defense Thursday night.