Blazing fast: LCCP wins district, home opener
Published 8:00 am Saturday, September 24, 2022
So much for the Lake Charles College Prep slump.
The Trailblazers (2-2, 1-0) broke a two-game losing streak and opened District 3-3A play in style Friday night with a dominant 51-0 win over South Beauregard.
The win, in the Blazers’ first home game, extended their winning streak against district opponents to 16.
The Blazers quickly shook off the offensive woes that plagued them in losses at Westgate and Opelousas. They scored a combined 12 points in those games.
Against South Beauregard (1-3, 0-1), the Blazers scored on the first play from scrimmage – a 63-yard option keeper by quarterback Josiah Bushnell. The Blazers scored five touchdowns on 13 offensive plays from scrimmage in the first half, including each of the last three.
Bushnell threw touchdown passes of 15 yards to Seth Woods and 74 yards to Eric Beloney while adding another score on a 58-yard scramble down the left sideline.
Khel Arvie scored on a 3-yard run and Dylen Rubin scored on a 51-yard run. Linebacker Daylon Sibley scored on a 40-yard fumble return.
The Blazers capped the scoring on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter, an 11-yard touchdown pass from Bushnell to Elijah Garrick.
Blazers head coach Erick Franklin said he saw the performance coming during the week of preparations.
“I thought we had a good week of practice,” he said. “We had a real physical week and the guys were focused in on what the assignment was. It doesn’t matter who you play, it’s how you play and that was the difference tonight.”
No one exemplified the turnaround more than Bushnell, who threw four interceptions last week but was a perfect 6 of 6 for 163 yards and ran for 118 yards on three carries.
“We worked on him hard all week,” Franklin said. “It all comes down to how you practice, and he played well all during the week.”
Franklin said he wasn’t worried about the early losses.
“You don’t want to peak too early and we played a tough schedule — Westgate was in the state championship game and Opelousas is a great team that many people haven’t seen yet, they are big and physical. We made a lot of mistakes and they whipped us good last week. We learned that we had to grow up. The offensive line had to grow up.
“We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores playing there, and they saw last week they had to grow. Tonight our defense was physical and played assignment football.”
Cooper Cole led the Golden Knights with 72 rushing yards on 17 carries. South Beauregard twice drove into Blazers territory in the first half, but each drive ended with a turnover on downs.