Lafayette Renaissance’s coaches and players are always talking about wanting to start fast.
In Friday’s 54-6 win over Acadiana Renaissance, the Tigers couldn’t have started any faster.
“I thought we came out and executed what we worked on all week,” Tigers head coach Hunter Landry said. “We wanted to start out fast and we did a pretty good job of starting off fast.”
Behind an offense that moved the football at will and a stifling defense, the Tigers jumped out to a 35-0 first quarter lead.
Thirty seconds into the second quarter, the Tigers extended their lead to 42-0 and the remainder of the game was played with running time.
“We challenged them. Last week, we kind of got out to a lead and we went flat,” Landry said. “We’ve seen this before where we don’t play a full game. I thought we did a good job of trying to stay focused on the task at hand and finishing.”
Offensively, the Tigers were led by quarterback Kennan Brown, who torched ARCA’s secondary with his arm and showed off his ability to impact the game with his legs.
“It starts with Kennan. Kennan does a great job, and he has a lot of weapons around him,” Landry said. “The receivers did a great job on the perimeter blocking and upfront I thought we gave Kennan a lot of time back there and guys made some plays.”
While playing one half of football, Brown completed 11 of 13 passes for 154 yards and three touchdowns, while rushing four times for 55 yards which included a 40-yard touchdown run.
Browns touchdown passes went to three – Ashton Joseph, Brenden Miles and Chance Valentine – different receivers. Joseph finished with a game-high 89 yards on five catches, while Miles (2-27) and Valentine (1-11) combined for three receptions for 38 yards.
Running backs Keith Guillory (9-75, 1 TD) and Ma’kye Andrus (2-73, 1 TD) led the way on the ground as they combined for 148 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries.
“I thought the receivers had a really good week of practice,” Landry said. “It starts with Kennan, and he does a really good job of finding the open guy. It was a take what they give us type night. Keith might not have had a lot of rushing yards, but he did a great job in pass protection and the receivers did a great job of finding open lanes.”
Defensively, the Tigers held ARCA to 151 yards of total offense (5 rushing, 146 passing), recorded three sacks, intercepted two passes – one of which Jaymien Zenon returned 90 yards for a touchdown – and recovered a muffed punt.
“Coach (Jacarde) Cater challenged those guys this week to come out with a little more energy,” Landry said of the defense. “We played fast, and we played physical. We wanted to stop the run, and I think we did a good job of that.”
Running back Kristian Aubrey was a bright spot for ARCA as he caught six passes for 108 yards and a touchdown, while quarterback Vance Laborde completed 10 of 18 passes for 146 yards and a touchdown.
