St. Stanislaus stymies Stone 23-14 for first 4-1 start since 2016
St. Stanislaus gave the visiting Tomcats from Stone County little room to breathe.
The Rock-a-Chaws forced three turnovers and held Stone (2-3) to just one offensive score in their 23-14 victory on Friday.
The win gave SSC its first 4-1 start since 2016, and made its defense a perfect five-for-five on allowing three touchdowns or fewer in a game.
“Our defense is just really explosive,” Louisiana Tech commit Jacob Bradford said after the game.
Bradford had 12 tackles, three quarterback hurries and a sack while playing on both the offensive and defensive lines. His defense forced three fumbles, two of which ended lengthy drives by the Tomcats.
The other led to one of two touchdown passes thrown by Rock-a-Chaw quarterback Ian Gael Gonzalez Rioz.
“It just comes down to them being warriors,” SSC coach Tim Lala said of his front seven. “You got Jacob Bradford and Andrew Whitney who are, I believe, playing more snaps than anybody on the freaking Coast. They’re playing offense and defense and doing a great job.
“Spencer Cornell is an unbelievable leader. He’s the craziest kid you’ll ever meet in your life. Honor roll student, but when he gets on the field he’s just a madman. That kind of mentality is what sets those guys apart.”
A star in the making
The Rock-a-Chaws got a lift from a freshman defensive lineman whose play in recent weeks has created problems for opposing offensive lines that are already busy double-teaming Bradford.
Sam LeJeune is listed at 6-foot-4, 275 pounds and leveraged every bit of his size to disrupt Stone’s operation. LeJeune had five tackles, four hurries, a sack and a fumble recovery against the Tomcats.
“(Sam) is going to end up breaking my record,” Bradford — the school’s all-time leader in sacks — said about LeJeune. “He’s going to be better than me. He has the most potential I’ve ever seen in a player.”
LeJeune’s play has helped keep every opponent that has come across the Rock-a-Chaws this season to 22 points or fewer.
Quarterbacks have been unable to find any safety in their own pockets against a defense touting three different players up to three total sacks through five games.
“We’ve been flowing to the ball a lot more this year,” LeJeune said. “Getting pressure on the quarterback almost every pass play and it’s been good.”
Peak not reached for Rock-a-Chaws
St. Stanislaus hasn’t played a team at or below its 3A classification yet this season. The Tomcats are out of 5A and were just two weeks removed from a beating a 7A team.
With an active defense and an electrifying quarterback who accounted for more than 400 yards of offense Friday, the Rock-a-Chaws are hopeful the schedule has prepared them well.
“We’ve shown what we can do and I think most 3A teams know what we can do,” Bradford said. “I think we should win state. I mean, we got everything we need. We just need to get everything better as we go.”
But as Lala told his team after Friday’s win, 4-1 holds little weight if SSC doesn’t rectify mistakes. The offense turned the ball over twice and a blocked punt followed by a punt return touchdown were responsible for both of the Tomcats scores.
““That 4-1 record is awesome and should give us some confidence going into region, but it doesn’t mean anything in terms of our goals,” Lala said. “This was not a clean football game... We definitely got to clean up a lot of that stuff going into region.”
St. Stanislaus stays home next week and opens its district schedule against Tylertown.
