When you play a caliber team like the St. Charles Comets, a team can not make mistakes if they want to beat them.
Abbeville head coach Roderick Moy preached that to his team all week. He told his team that the team that commits the least amount of mistakes wins.
Abbeville committed more mistakes and lost to St. Charles, 29-13.
The Wildcats limited their mistakes in the first half and were only down 14-13 at halftime.
Abbeville had outgained St. Charles 252 yards to 68 yards in the first half.
The second half began as the Wildcats wanted. The Wildcats took the opening drive and covered 67 yards in 20 plays, but they got nothing to show.
Abbeville had first down on the St. Charles’ 13-yard-line with a chance to go ahead. Instead, Abbeville went backwards, thanks to two penalties. Abbeville attempted a 26-yard field goal, but it sailed right.
From that point on, the Wildcats never recovered.
“That first drive (in the second half) was everything we wanted,” said Moy. “We get inside the 20-yard line and shoot ourselves in the foot. We talked about it for a week in practice. Whoever makes the least mistakes will win this game. More games are lost than won. It is high school football.”
Heading into the fourth quarter, the Wildcats were still down 14-13. An interception stopped AHS’s second drive, that the defender ran back to the 3-yard-line. The Comets would score to take a 22-13 game.
Although the score does not indicate it, Abbeville dominated the game on offense and defense.
The defense held the Comets to under 100 yards, while Abbeville had 388 yards of total offense. They rushed for 266 yards and threw for 122 yards.
St. Charles head coach Wayne Stein was impressed with Abbeville.
“Abbeville was a very well-coached team that had a good plan against us,” said Stein. “They matched up well against us. It was a clean game. It was two teams who respected and got after one another.”
The Wildcats found themselves behind the eight ball a minute into the game, down 7-0.
AHS’s first game drive ended badly when a St. Charles defender took it out of the hands of running back Jaysen Shelvin. The defender ran it back 35 yards for a touchdown.
Just like that, Abbeville was down 14-0.
Once the dust settled and the Wildcats calmed down, they put together an 80-yard, 14-play drive for seven points.
Trasean Green ran seven yards for a touchdown, and Edwin Ramirez kicked the extra point, making it 14-7.
The Wildcats scored on their next possession. That time it was a 78-yard pass play to Derrian Washington. The point after kicked was missed, and the Wildcats were down 14-13.
Moy was proud of the way the kids played in the first half.
“We felt awesome at halftime,” Moy said. “We knew what we were going to come out and do. We came out and did what we wanted to do. We could not finish. It is a game of finishing.
“St Charles finished its drives, and we did not. We turned the ball over, and they did not. We are a championship football team for 24 minutes. But they do not hand out rings for two quarters.”
Doing his best to try and keep Abbeville’s offense alive was Shelvin. He rushed for 171 yards on 17 carries. He also completed four passes for more than 25 yards.
Abbeville opens district at home Friday against Crowley. It will be Abbeville’s homecoming.
