Abbeville plays smash-mouth football in win

After two games, the Abbeville Wildcats have shown nothing fancy with their offense. They play smash-mouth football. Hand the ball off and run it down the middle.
With a host of players carrying the football, the Wildcats got their first win of 2023, whipping Central Catholic of Morgan City 20-7. They finished with more than 200 yards rushing.
The Wildcats play host to North Vermilion next Friday.
Abbeville head coach Roderick Moy said he cannot play smash-mouth football three weeks in a row.
“If I am North Vermilion, I would put 11 in the box and make us throw,” said Moy. “We can get away with running the ball up the middle two weeks in a row. I don’t expect us to be able to do that three weeks in a row. We will have to throw the football and change our offense.”
The game was cut short by a full quarter because of a lightning delay. At the start of the fourth period, the referees pulled everyone off the field and fans had to leave the stands because of lightning.
After 15 minutes, the coaches and referees met to decide what to do next. They checked the weather radar and saw a thunderstorm on its way.
Central Catholic coaches agreed to cancel the game and not reschedule.
“The kids’ safety is way more important than the game,” Moy said. “We want to get the kids on the buses and back to school safely before the weather hits.”
That gave the victory to Abbeville (1-1).
The Wildcats used six players to carry the football,
Edmar Simon III was the leading ball carrier with six carries for 136 yards. He had two carries that totaled 130 yards. He had a TD run for 75 yards and a TD run for 55 yards.
The Wildcat with the most carries was Lathaniel Tizeno, with 10 carries for 34 yards.
The Wildcats led 14-0 at halftime, and its defense stopped Central Catholic’s rushing game. At halftime, Central Catholic had 34 yards rushing.
Zalen Hopkins and Te’Zarron Stewart had a couple of sacks for AHS.
The Eagles took the second half’s opening drive and went 44 yards for a score that made it 14-7.
However, on Abbeville’s first possession of the second half, Simon went around the left side for a 55-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion pass was no good, and AHS led 20-7.
“Edmar is our homerun playmaker,” said Moy. “When we need a play to go outside, he is the guy.”
Moy was complimentary of what the offense did under the direction of quarterback Da’Zavian Maze.
“He commanded the football game,” the AHS coach said. “I’m not sure of his numbers, but the time we had the football was much more than theirs.
“He controlled the game. We controlled the game, which was never out of our hands.”