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This year’s honoree for Citizen of the Year for the 71st Annual Louisiana Cattle Festival is Fr. Louis J. Richard.
The Cattle Festival will be held in Abbeville on Oct. 10-13. The Rotary Club will be among honorees recognized at the Honoree Social and Banquet this Saturday, Oct. 5. The event will begin at 6 p.m. at Magdalen Place in Abbeville.
Richard, the current pastor at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church, was born and raised in Abbeville. The son of Joyce and the late A.J. Richard, he attended Mt. Carmel. In 1970, Richard entered Immaculata Seminary in Lafayette to begin his studies for the priesthood. He then
completed his undergraduate studies at St. Joseph Seminary College in St. Benedict, La., in 1977, earning at B.A. in Psychology and also Philosophy.
Richard then went to Louvain, Belgium, where he received a STB/MA. in Theology from the Catholic University of Louvain.
He was ordained a priest on Aug. 7, 1981, at 38 years old, at St. Mary Magdalen, the church of all his previous sacraments.
Richard has had assignments at St. Genevieve and St. Pius X in Lafayette, St. Joseph in Milton, St. Michael in Crowley and then Sacred Heart of Jesus in Broussard, until his current assignment back here at St. Mary Magdalen Church in 2014.
Richard also serves as the Chaplain for Acadian Ambulance Service, Inc. Additionally, he is a founder and charter board member of Hospice of Acadiana, the region’s first and only non-profit Hospice program serving those in need of quality end-of-life care.
In 2016, Fr. Richard was appointed as an Episcopal Dean, Representative for the Bishop for the West Region of the Diocese of Lafayette, including all church parishes in Acadia and Vermilion civil parishes. He serves on the Board of Directors for Catholic Charities of Acadiana. He is also the Chancellor for Vermilion Catholic High School.
“It has been a great joy to return home to Abbeville,” Fr. Richard said, “to serve at St. Mary Magdalen, where I grew up. I am touched and deeply honored for this recognition as Citizen of the Year for the 71st Louisiana Cattle Festival.
“I continually ask God to watch over and bless our wonderful community.”

PRAIRIE RONDE – At approximately 8 a.m. on September 21, 2019, Troopers from Louisiana State Police Troop I began investigating a single vehicle crash on LA 103 South of US-167 in St. Landry Parish. The crash ultimately took the life of 38-year-old Frederick Freeman of Opelousas.
The initial investigation by State Police revealed Freeman was riding in the bed of a 2006 Dodge Dakota. For unknown reasons, Freeman fell out of the moving truck and sustained serious injuries.
Freeman was transported to a local hospital in critical condition. On September 30th, State Police was notified that Freeman succumbed to his injuries on September 27th. The driver was properly restrained and was not injured. Impairment was not suspected on the part of Freeman or the driver. The driver did submit a voluntary breath sample which showed no alcohol present. The driver committed no violations and was not cited. This crash remains under investigation.
Louisiana State Troopers wish to remind motorists that all occupants in a vehicle must be restrained, regardless of seating position. While not all crashes are survivable, statistics show that the chances of surviving a crash rise significantly when properly restrained. Making good choices while in motor vehicles such as never driving while impaired and always ensuring every occupant is properly restrained can often mean the difference between life and death.

The Abbeville Wildcats’ offense was clicking Friday against the Beau Chene Gators.
The Wildcats scored a season-high 35 points and produced 511 yards of offense in en route to a 35-25 triumph over Beau Chene.
The Wildcats (1-3) ran a season-high 68 plays compared to Beau Chene’s 58.
On the ground is where the Wildcats did their damage. They rushed for 458 yards behind the legs of Darrian Harrison. Harrison had a season-high 183 yards rushing on 23 carries. He averaged an amazing eight yards a carry each time he touched the football.
Brendan Shelvin had 10 carries for 95 yards and a touchdown.
The Wildcats fell behind 9-7 at the start of the second quarter but then outscored the Gators 20-0 behind its rushing game.
Harrison had a 54-yard TD run and an 11-yard TD run.
Abbeville even threw a touchdown pass. Shelvin completed a 13-yard pass to Garrick Scott in the second quarter.
With five minutes to play in the game, Abbeville led 35-18.
Ten different Wildcats ran the football. Jaidyn O’Brien, who is babying an ankle injury, had three carries for 61 yards. Charles Shufford (3-18 yards) and Eric Levine (4-14 yards) also had carried.
Scott had three catches for 26 yards, and Conner Garret had two for seven yards. Harrison (1-15) and DJ Campbell (1-5) had the other receptions for AHS.
On defense, Abbeville gave up 281 yards.
Kendall Landry led AHS with five solo tackles. Marshal Major (4 solos, three assists) and Christian Alvarez (4 solos, two assists) also had a good game on defense.
The Wildcats are on the road Friday to battle Eunice (3-1). Eunice is coming off a 30-15 loss to Breaux Bridge.

By Bruce Brown

Special to The Meridional

LEROY – They may be in different classes and districts now, but the North Vermilion Patriots and Erath Bobcats still bring plenty of emotion when they meet.
That was true Friday night at NVHS, as the host Patriots withstood a second-half rally to hold off the Bobcats 34-27 and improve to 3-1 in their first year in Class 4A.
The Patriots made plenty of mistakes, perhaps dwelling on the previous week’s rousing overtime win at Ascension Episcopal. But Erath matched most of those miscues with errors of their own.
It was not a sharp showing by either side, but it was entertaining.
“This is my third year here, and we had never beaten Ascension until last week,’ said NVHS coach Brett Blakey. “That started to give us some confidence. But I told the team that win would have meant nothing if we had lost tonight.
“Instead of 3-1 with something to shoot for, we would have been back at 2-2. But we took the opportunity and ran with it.”
“It’s hard to find a lot that’s good from this game,” Bobcats coach Eric LeBlanc said. “But, congratulations to Norh Vermilion. They beat us. They made the plays they needed to make.”
‘Hat’s off to Erath,” Blakey said. “They were tied with us, scored twice after half to tie us. They have a good team. It was an entertaining game.”
It was a game that wasn’t decided until Patriots quarterback Darius Gilliam picked up a clinching first down with a minute to go.
It was Gilliam who scored the winning touchdown on a 10-yard run with 28 seconds left in the third quarter after the Bobcats had rallied from a 20-14 halftime deficit to force a 27-27 tie.

It was also Gilliam who, with a 34-27 lead and second down at the EHS 41, forced an ill-advised pitchout that was claimed by the Bobcats with 2:10 remaining.

“Darius plays his tail off every game, evey play,” Blakey said. “He had a (similar) pitch against Abbeville that went for a 70-yard touchdown. You can’t get mad at him. You just have to talk to him. It’s a learning experience.”

Given a shot for another score, the Bobcats suffered two straight calamitous center snaps to Luke LeBlanc for losses of 5 and 10 yards. Eventually EHS had to punt.
It was that kind of night. Execution could not hope to match emotions for the two old rivals. North Vermilion has moved up to Class 4A now, while Erath remains in District 8-3A, but the rivalry still runs deep.
Kendrick Baudoin opened the scoring with a 28-yard run for a 7-0 Patriots lead, but a 3-yard scamper around end by LeBlanc knotted it at 7 apiece. LeBlanc set sail on a 78-yard run to the NVHS 6 just one snap after the kickoff to set up the score.
Baudoin sped in from 39 yards for 14-7, but LeBlanc’s 14-yard score knotted things at 14 with 4:09 left in the half.
Then EHS fullback Jax Thibodeaux, fighting for extra yardage with a pass from LeBlanc, fumbled it away with 1:41 left until halftime.
Gilliam took advantage with a 9-yard run and 20-14 lead at the break.
He stretched the lead to 27-14 with a 40-yard run in the third, only to see the visitors strike back.
First, Thibodeaux plowed through the defense from 7 yards out, Then Thibodeaux struck from the 11 to tie it at 27 at 4:58 in the third.
The Patriots had one more card to play, and they made it work.
“This came down to us just doing our jobs,” Blakey said. “Like (New England coach) Bill Belichick says, ‘Just do your job.’ I’m proud of our team. For as many mistakes as we made, we never quit.”