Coach Mark Bonis always lists winning the turnover battle as one of his keys to victory, and that was certainly the case last Friday night at Tad Gormley Stadium as the Crusaders capitalized on five turnovers, two of which produced defensive touchdowns, to defeat Hahnville for the second year in a row, 37-20.

Martin’s first score was set up by Junior DB Nick Turner’s fumble recovery at the end of a 40 yard run by Hahnville’s Brandon Comardelle in the first period. The Crusaders proceeded to drive 66 yards in 10 plays. Junior HB Chris Smith dove over from the 1 for the game’s first points. Before the first half ended, QB Drew Martin connected with WR L.J. Gilyot for a gain of 43 yards, then found his fellow senior again over the middle for a TD to make the score 20-0 at the break. Drew finished the evening with 200 yards passing.

After a shaky first half that saw him fumble several snaps and miss open receivers, the Tigers’ sophomore quarterback Drew Naquin, in the first start of his career, began to find his rhythm after the break to finish with 168 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns. Martin saw its lead dwindle to 23-13 before scoring two defensive touchdowns in the last 90 seconds to ice the game. The first was Devonn Moore’s 43-yard interception return. A few plays later, Turner returned a fumble 38 yards to add icing on the cake. Hahnville made the final score closer on a 90-yard runback of the ensuing kickoff in the final 20 seconds.

Showing his versatility, Moore also scored the Crusaders’ second TD on a 10 yard run in the second period. The junior’s performance earned him nola.com’s Player of the Game award.

Bonis was not pleased with the Crusaders’ defense as the Tigers racked up over 200 yards on the ground. "I'm happy with the win, but I'm not very happy overall. You've got to give credit to Hahnville. They've been facing adversity this whole week, and they fought the whole game. We just didn't finish the football game. So, I'm disappointed because we were just way too sloppy overall, but we walk away with a win. We were able to win ugly, and next week, we've got to make more improvements."

And the improvements need to come quickly as the Crusaders tackle John Curtis. The 3-0 Patriots are ranked fifth in the state across all classifications by maxpreps.com. Collin Guggenheim, a 5’ 11”, 185-pound junior, is “a different kind of quarterback,” says Coach Bonis. “He’s efficient running their veer offense. He’s been starting since he was a freshman.” Guggenheim has also become more proficient as a passer.

Be in that number tonight at Tulane University’s Yulman Stadium at 7:00 p.m. to help the Crusaders start district play on a winning note!