Abbeville set for homecoming vs. Beau Chene

It’s homecoming week at Abbeville High School, but head coach Roderick Moy and his staff have worked to make sure the football team is focused on their opponent, Beau Chene, and not all the homecoming activities during the week.
“Always as a football coach, you don’t like the distractions,” Moy said. “You want to allow the kids to go out there and enjoy it, but we also have to remember that this week culminates on Friday night, and all the things they do during the week isn’t nearly as fun if we go out and drop one Friday night. We still need to be able to take care of business once it’s time to practice and get ready for Beau Chene, because they’re still a dangerous enough ballclub that if we don’t have our minds where they need to be, you can lose any given Friday night.”
The Gators (1-2) are athletic and have a lot of speed on the perimeter. BC beat Port Barre 9-6 in its second game, sandwiched between losses to Rayne (49-6) and Northwest (29-3).
Abbeville is 2-1 after a 22-18 win over North Vermilion this past week.
“We feel like for the third week in a row that we have an advantage in the box, on the offensive and defensive lines,” Moy said. “That’s where we have to control the football game, and that’s where the game’s going to be won and lost. If we can do what we do up front, I think we’re going to be OK.
“That’s where our bread is buttered. We have a total of eight seniors up front — the five offensive linemen, and three of our defensive linemen are all seniors. I think that’s what’s going to make or break us, and we think that’s the case again this week.”
Moy expects the Gators to take some chances by putting seven or eight players within a few yards of the line of scrimmage to stop Abbeville’s rushing attack.
“They’re going to stack the box and make us prove we can be mult-dimensional,” Moy said. “So we’re going to see. They’re going to try and take the run away from us, and we’ll see if we can be a complete offense this week.”
Moy said Abbeville will try to make Beau Chene cover the entire football field.
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be throwing it, we have to be able to run laterally, run north and south, and take the top off the defense with the forward pass as well,” he said. “We can’t be so predictable. We have to make them work for it.”
In the win over North Vermilion, the Wildcats could’ve played better on special teams, Moy said, but played well in other aspects.
“I thought we played real well defensively, and I thought we moved the ball well offensively,” Moy said. “They beat us in one-third of the game, and fortunately for us, that wasn’t enough to beat us.”
Zaylun Williams had a career game, Moy said, at both linebacker and on offense. Williams rushed for 75 yards, with three of his seven carries going for touchdowns. He also made some big first downs for the Wildcats, averaging more than 10 yards a carry, and earned Gulf Coast Bank Offensive Player of the Week honors for Vermilion Parish.
“He was the difference in the game, and he was somebody they didn’t have an answer for,” the coach said.
Moy said that Williams will remain primarily a defensive player but as the year goes on he could see more time on offense, which is where he started as a freshman.
“We want to be one-way (using players solely on either offense or defense) right now, especially while it’s still hot outside, but as the year goes on and the temperature goes down, the more we can use him offensively,” Moy said.
“He’s just so valuable to us on the defensive side of the football, and getting everybody in the right place, you never want to take him from that side. But he showed this week what kind of quality football player he can be on the other side when all the chips are down and you’ve got to have it.”
The coach also is pleased with the way sophomore quarterback Da’Zavien Maze has been playing. The Wildcats haven’t asked him to throw a lot but Moy likes the leadership Maze has shown.
“We’re still, with a sophomore quarterback, very pleased with the way he’s been leading our ball club,” Moy said. “If we’re fortunate to get to 3-1 this week, we’re very excited about his development.”