Teurlings Catholic defense weathers Westgate's run game in Rebels' big district victory

Teurlings Catholic ran nine plays on offense in the first half against District 4-4A rival Westgate. The Tigers controlled the ball, holding possession of the ball for more than 19 minutes.

And somehow, the Rebels took a 14-7 lead to halftime.

Senior cornerback Gylen Ford put Teurlings out front with a 55-yard interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter. The passing game for Westgate without four-star athlete prospect and starting quarterback Jaboree Antonie was nearly nonexistent and the Rebels defense took advantage of the few attempts it threw.

Travis Gallien did about everything for the Rebs, and sealed the deal with a 35-yard pick-6 with 5:20 remaining.

On homecoming at Rebel Stadium, Teurlings pulled away from the Tigers, 38-14, for a big win in both team's district opener.

Teurlings Catholic defense capitalizes on Westgate's mistakes

Both of the Rebs' first two TDs came off Tiger (4-2) interceptions. Robert Miller picked off Leon's first pass attempt. Two plays later, Teurlings Catholic senior quarterback Preston Welch hit Travis Gallien in stride on the slant and Gallien took it 85 yards to the end zone for the game's first score.

Miraculously, the Rebels defense fought off fatigue, having been out on the field for more than 75% of the playing time in the first two quarters.

Gallien said he doesn't practice at rush end on defense all that time, that it was a "surprise" switch that Dane Charpentier and the other coaches have had him working on sporadically. In his first time in a game at the position, the sophomore made a tremendous splash.

"It's a surprise that me and coach have been working on at practice," Gallien said. "Getting our whole team better, making our D-line and linebackers better. We've been dealing with injuries so I had to step on up on defense."

Teurlings' defense finished with four interceptions.

Without Jaboree Antonie, Westgate football goes heavy on run game led by Tavias Gordon

On the athletic meter, Westgate was going to be a bit handicapped without Antonie.

But junior running back Tavias Gordon, who came into the night rolling of late, closed the gap nearly on his own. By two minutes into the second quarter, the speedster eclipsed 100 rushing yards. Westgate mixed in direct snap packages with Gordon Davian Jackson taking snaps and it led to several runs of 10-plus yards.

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Gordon ended the game with 215 yards on 27 rushes.

"Tavias is a warrior," Westgate football coach Ryan Antonie said. "He played his butt off tonight, he's been doing it all year. He's one of the best running backs in the state, he's running for almost 200 yards a night, no matter what.

"We got some guys back tonight with (Leon). This was the first time he played quarterback for us tonight, we had to do some different things in four days. He made some mistakes but we kind of knew some of those things were going to happen. Teurlings capitalized on our mistakes, they're a good team but we helped them."

Preston Welch-Travis Gallien connection in pass game key for Teurlings

They had the highlight 85-yard pitch-and-catch on the Rebs' offense second play from scrimmage and they stayed connected throughout the game. Gallien, who scored on offense and defense, pulled down three receptions from Welch for 105 yards.

"He's a child in a man's body," Charpentier said of Gallien. "He's got a long way to go but you can see the raw talent. I think the sky's the limit for him. If he can do the things he needs to do he can go a lot of places. You saw tonight against a really good Westgate team, he took the game over in the first and fourth quarters when it really mattered."

Three of Welch's five completions went Gallien's way as the senior QB went 9-for-14 for 194 yards with two touchdowns passes.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Teurlings Catholic leans on defense to down Westgate