The young ‘Rabbits team continued their development Friday as they notched their first win, besting the Gauchos of Narbonne 28-14. The defense stepped up big this week, forcing two turnovers, each of which led to a Jackrabbit touchdown. At the end of the day, turnovers decided the game. Dylan Lagarde, the ‘Rabbits’ featured quarterback of the night, only threw one interception. The ensuing Gaucho drive resulted in a touchdown, and highlighted the inexperienced Poly defense’s biggest weakness: penalties. In all, the ‘Rabbits committed 19 penalties for 155 yards. In this particular instance, the ‘Rabbits made a goal line stand, forcing the Gauchos to kick a field goal, then gave Narbonne a second chance and a fresh set of downs on the Poly 4 yard line with a personal foul on the kick.
The ‘Rabbits showed flashes of brilliance, both offensively and defensively, but in the end they still looked sloppy and there were far too many penalties. The following stat will speak for the penalties: Narbonne converted just 1 of 17 third downs, but went 5 of 8 on fourth down, only one of which was earned by the Gauchos. Now, about those flashes of brilliance…
Quarterback Dylan Lagarde didn’t have the best numbers in the world (5-for-10 for 85 yards and two TDs, along with the pick), but he definitely made some plays. He gave the Jackrabbits their first lead of the season when he connected with receiver Kaelin Clay from 37 yards out, then tacked on another six later in the game with a tight end pop to Earnest Pettway for a 22-yard touchdown. The offensive line showed marked improvement as well, allowing Poly’s running game to finally get its feet on the ground, so to speak. The Jackrabbits averaged 5.8 yards on 26 carries, giving them a total of 150 yards and two touchdowns on the night.
Lara was happy with his quarterback’s performance, and spoke about the carousel system he’s had so far this season (two QBs have played in all three games this year). “We’re trying to find out who’s going to be the guy for league,” he said. “Next week might see something different. It’s a competition in practice, so we’ll see what happens.”
Kaelin Clay had the longest run on the night, reminding the UCLA scouts at the game why they’re interested in him with a 40 yard reverse that brought the ‘Rabbits to the 3 yard line. That, with the 37-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter meant that Clay accounted for roughly 1/3 of Poly’s total offense. As for defensive brilliance, Turley started two sophomores (Salamo Fiso and Matthew Rowe) and a junior (Josh Fasavalu) at linebacker, and saw great results. The three youthful ‘backers led the ‘Rabbit defense to something resembling the units Moore League football fans are used to seeing, with a strong effort by the starters keeping the Gauchos scoreless in the first half, with a decent chunk of their yardage and the second touchdown coming against Poly’s second string in Narbonne’s final drive of the game.
At the end of the day, do the Jackrabbits still have a lot to work on? Yes. Have they shown progress throughout their rigorous pre season schedule? Yes. Should they be counted out of the running for another Moore League title? Absolutely not.