Southside Sharks prove they can take a beating and move on

One of the marks of a good football team is how well they bounce back from adversity, and the Southside Sharks certainly passed that test on Friday night.

Southside, whose five-game win streak was snapped last week with a 33-point loss to Acadiana, fell behind 14-0 on Friday night before bouncing back to beat the Carencro Bears 44-21 in a District 3-5A game.

“We played Acadiana last week and in my opinion they will probably win state,” Southside coach Jess Curtis said. “I told them (Southside players) after the game that I was so proud of the way they picked up the nozzle, stepped off the canvas and got back to work and fought our way back into the game. And again, that is Carencro That’s a good football team and I’m just very proud of the way we responded and adapted.”

Carencro scored the first points of the game at 10:33 of the first quarter when Carson Gurzi hit Chantz Babineaux on a 59-yard scoring pass, giving them a quick 7-0 lead.

The Bears extended their lead at 6:35 of the opening period when Babineaux connected with Kaiden Castille on a 7-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0.

“Babineaux might be the best, if not one of the best players in the district,” Curtis said. “They got the ball to him early, and we had a breakdown in coverage. Good players will make you pay for your mistakes, and he’s certainly a good player.”

After Carencro dominated the first quarter, Southside turned the tables in the second quarter, starting with a Ramon Singleton 9-yard touchdown run at 8:43 of the frame, cutting the deficit to 14-8.

The Sharks then went on a critical scoring drive just before the end of the half that took nearly 6:00 off the clock, culminating in a 15-yard touchdown pass from Parker Dies to Singleton with just :05 remaining, giving them a 15- metres. 14 lead at half time.

“That was important because we ran out of timeouts, that was just a good decision by Coach (Zach) Bertrand (offensive coordinator),” Curtis said. “That was huge because we went into the half with a lot of momentum and then carried that into the second half.”

As in the first half, the Bears scored the first points of the second half and regained the lead, when Gurzi hit Babineaux with their second touchdown pass of the game – this one was a 31-yarder, for a 21–15 lead. at 6:55 a.m. of the third quarter.

From there it was all Southside.

The Sharks scored the final 29 points, including touchdown runs from Justin Williams (39 yards), Kollen Francois (8 yards), Cruz Holden (2 yards) and Dontavia Jean-Baptiste (4 yards), giving them 29 unanswered points in the 44 yards. -21 triumph.

A pair of those touchdowns were set up by the Southside defense, which forced the Bears into five second-half turnovers as the Sharks played flawless football.

“That’s who we are, we want to defend well, turn our opponent around, put our offense on the field and score,” Curtis said. “We like to control the time of possession, deliver the body punch, and when we do that we’re usually going to win.”

Senior cornerback Derrick Collins provided one of the scores with a key interception in the fourth quarter.

“Derrick is one of the best athletes in the state, and it’s time for him to get some (college) offers,” Curtis said. “He (Collins) can play anywhere in the secondary, he’s got good grades and that kid deserves an offer. He showed you tonight how well he can play in man-to-man coverage, he’s had two interceptions, and I Is that just possible? I don’t say enough about that child.”

The win wrapped up the Sharks’ regular season home schedule on Senior Night.

“This senior class has been amazing,” Curtis said. “There are a lot of special guys in this group, because when you are a senior it is sometimes difficult to take a new path and learn something new.

“But they all did, and I’m very grateful for that, and that’s why we had such a great season and have a chance to go into the playoffs highly seeded.”

With the win, Southside improved to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in district play, while Carencro fell to 4-4 and 4-2, respectively.

Southside closes out the regular season next week when they travel to New Iberia to take on the Yellow Jackets.

“It’s going to be a big game because we have a lot to work on and we want to finish the season on a high note,” Curtis said. “You want to go into the play-offs humming, you want to sound like a Ferrari, so we want to use that game to help us get to 7-2.”