Abbeville has ‘fun’ game against Rayville

There are stressful football games, and then there are fun football games. Most football players enjoy playing fun football games.
That was the case Friday night in Abbeville’s lopsided 54-6 win over Class 2A Rayville Hornets.
The Hornets drove four hours from north Louisiana to play the Wildcats.
By the time they got warmed up, Rayville was down 12-0.
Heck, 10 seconds into the game, they were losing 6-0 after Abbeville kick returner Blake Saddler ran the opening kickoff 72 yards for a touchdown.
On Abbeville’s first possession, they marched 49 yards downfield in five plays. The big play on the drive was a 40-yard completion from quarterback Tahj Judge to Saddler.
Tre Green ran two yards for Abbeville’s second TD and a 12-0 lead.
At halftime, the Wildcats had a nice 27-6 lead.
Saddler had 193 all-purpose yards in the first half. He had 63 yards rushing, 55 yards receiving, and he had a 75-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
In the end, Saddler had 136 yards rushing on 11 carries.
With a big lead throughout the game, Abbeville linebacker Jason Alvarez said Friday night’s game was a “fun game.”
“It was a good game for me, but I was having fun out there. We were all having fun out there. We fed off one another,” said Alvarez.
Alvarez said the AHS coaches are now trying to preach to the players to enjoy the game of football instead of just trying to focus on winning.
“If we are going to have fun, then we are going to win,” Alvarez added. “Tonight we enjoyed ourselves, and we had fun.”
The AHS defense held the Hornets to just six points and just over 100 yards of total offense.
Alvarez, who plays outside linebacker, had one of his best games of the year. He had at least five solo tackles, a quarterback sack, a blocked punt, he tackled the punter before he punted. He also forced the Rayville quarterback to fumble while Alvarez had his arms wrapped around his waist. The fumble was for minus 15 yards.
The senior has watched the bad and the good at AHS the last four years.
He said he prefers winning over losing.
“Everything is new to me,” said Alvarez about winning. “There are fans in the stands. My teammates do not argue on the sidelines. We are a team, which is the best thing for us.”
Abbeville had 10 different players carry the pigskin.
Green had six carries for 43 yards and two scores. In the second half, Braylon Moore had five carries for 33 yards.
Abbeville (7-1) is on the road Friday to take on parish-rival Kaplan (3-4).