Crowley High School
Football Season 2006

THE POST-SIGNAL / Jacob Dupuis
Crowley High’s Jordan Landry eludes an Iowa defender Friday in the Gents’ 35-14 victory over the ninth-ranked Yellow Jackets at Gardiner Memorial Stadium. Landry rushed 19 times for 146 yards and two touchdowns in the contest.

Gents take sting out of Yellow Jackets
CROWLEY – After falling to Iowa in the season opener one year ago, Crowley High coach Brent Indest and his Gents were eager to get another crack at the Yellow Jackets.
They got it Friday night and made the most of it, shocking the No. 9-ranked Yellow Jackets, 35-14, in front of a packed house at Gardiner Memorial Stadium.
“I’m not going to lie or try to play this off, we circled this one on the schedule a long time ago because we realized that they were going to be such a formidable opponent, number one," said Indest, whose team avenged 2005's 27-6 loss to the Jackets. "We felt like, definitely early on in our schedule, they were without a doubt the best football team that we were going to play.
“I won’t lie, we kind of sold out. We didn’t prepare much for anybody else; we’ve been preparing for them since the first day of August. Heck, we were preparing for them in pass scale drills this summer.”
That preparation paid off as the Gents took a 21-14 lead right before the half and again in the second half when they scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
“Iowa is a really good football team, but I just felt that we were really prepared tonight,” said Indest. “The kids bought into the game plan and bought into the fact that we were going to prepare for these folks for a solid month.”
Iowa did cause the Gents problems offensively, despite only hitting paydirt twice. The Yellow Jackets picked up 11 first downs gained 204 yards of total offense in the first half opposed to Crowley’s seven first downs and 181 yards.
“The spread offense is going to get its yards, especially when you’re as talented as those guys are,” said Indest. “Without a doubt, our secondary did a heck of a job, but man for man, we knew that they had us out-athleted out there. We just wanted to keep the ball in front of us and make them earn everything they got. And that’s what happened. You know, they moved the chains pretty often, but the key was keeping them out of the end zone.”
Iowa hit the end zone twice in the first quarter, but the turning point in the game came midway through the second quarter with the score tied at 14-14 and the Yellow Jackets driving.
On first and goal from the CHS 8, Mike Vital was met head on by Kenry Mire, causing a fumble which was recovered by Beau Desselle.
The Gents took advantage of the momentum shift and marched 95 yards in 12 plays, scoring on an option pitch from quarterback Kyron Benoit to Nikkita Savoy just before the half.
"The defense coming up and making that stop, that was as big as anything that happened tonight,” said Indest. “I always preach to the offense that when the defense sets you up, you’ve got to take advantage. We just took advantage. I could just tell: our offensive line just had fire in their eyes and they could tell that they (Jackets) were wearing down and we weren’t.”
Iowa, which carries a roster of just over 40, had numerous players going both ways which also played in the Gents' favor.
“When we run the kids after practice, I walk away because I don’t like making them run a whole lot,” said Indest. “But I knew that we had to do it, especially when I saw that Iowa was starting guys both ways. We knew that we could wear them down if we were prepared. I’ve run this team harder than I’ve ever run a football team in a dozen years as a head coach and I think it paid off.”
That endurance paid dividends in the second half as the Gents thwarted another scoring drive by the Yellow Jackets and then took over the game.
After a 42-yard kickoff return by Nikkita Savoy to start the half, a fumble gave Iowa the ball back at midfield.
The Yellow Jackets marched down to the CHS 3 before two penalties and a quarterback sack put Iowa in a fourth-and-goal from the 14.
Pressure from the Gents then led to an incompletion and a turnover on downs.
Jordan Landry and Savoy took over from there. That duo carried the bulk of the load on a 13-play, 79-yard drive that was capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by Landry, putting the Gents up 28-14.
Landry finished the game with 19 totes for 146 yards and two scores while Savoy had 103 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries.
“We are real excited about having two guys go for over 100,” said Indest. “Jordan and Nikkita both did a great job tonight, as well as our offensive line.”
Iowa coach David Miller agreed.
“They (Landry and Savoy) are very good players and they were a real challenge for our defense tonight,” said Miller. “We had a tough game. We lost and we accept it and will make the necessary corrections. Our goal the rest of the year is to get to the playoffs.”
Crowley’s final score came with 8:11 remaining in the fourth quarter when Savoy broke loose on a 45-yard touchdown run.
Other highlights of the second half included interceptions by Jamal Broussard and Antonio Smith.
The Gents’ defense led to the first score of the game when Iowa quarterback Nick Abshire fumbled and A.J. Lewis picked up the loose pig skin and rambled 40 yards for a touchdown.
Iowa answered on the ensuing drive when Vital capped a 63-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run.
Landry accounted for the Gents' second score on a 5-yard run at the 3:35 mark of the first quarter.
Iowa responded again, however.
The Yellow Jackets drove 65 yards in under two minutes, scoring on a 3-yard run by Abshire.
Abshire led the Yellow Jackets’ ground attack with 13 carries for 103 yards while Vital had 16 carries for 76.
“Nick and Mike both got hurt in the game and they continued to play,” said Miller. “They did everything they could do.
“We have a lot of new kids in new positions this year. We didn’t lose this because of the effort.”
The Gents will be home again next week when they play host to the DeRidder Dragons while Iowa will entertain Welsh.

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