Copyright Baton Rouge Advocate
The 2025 LHSAA football playoffs don't begin until next week, but in a way, the Westminster Christian Academy Lafayette Chargers captured the equivalent of a postseason win on Friday night. Westminster-Lafayette defeated the Vermilion Catholic Screamin' Eagles 20-19 in a District 6-1A matchup played at Lafayette Renaissance Charter, representing the final regular season game for both schools. Six years ago, Westminster Christian opened as Lafayette's newest preparatory school, before finishing their inaugural campaign as a full member of the LHSAA last season with an impressive 7-3 record during the regular season, prior to falling to Opelousas Catholic in a playoff game that could have gone either way. On Friday night, Westminster-Lafayette, playing without multiple players due to injury, took another big step in their impressive early success, downing Vermilion Catholic, the reigning Division IV Select state champs. "Absolutely," said Westminster-Lafayette head coach Kent Gable, when asked if the win was the biggest in the program's short history. "Vermilion Catholic has a great program; defending state champs, and we're down to having no subs left, with guys playing both ways (offense and defense), and to win a war like that, and to do it in that fashion is just so special. "I'm proud of our school, and I'm proud of these young men," said Gable. "I think it's a huge win, because I think now, hopefully, people will start to give us a little credit of where we are as a program. We ,ay be young, but we want to compete for state championships for a long time to come, and this win shows that we're capable of doing that." Westminster-Lafayette got on the scoreboard first, at the 2:12 mark of the first quarter, when Gavyn Hebert scored on a 2-yard touchdown run, which, following an unsuccessful PAT, gave them a 6-0 lead. "That was huge, because we wanted to come out, set the tone, and control the clock," said Gable. "The defense helped set that up with a stop on the first drive of the game, but that first touchdown was very big for us." Vermilion Catholic answered right back, when Luke McLain scored on a 28-yard touchdown run at the 1:04 mark of the opening frame, giving them a 7-6 advantage. The Eagles extended their lead at the 11:46 mark of the second quarter, when Will Simon scored on a short 2-yard run, which widened their lead to 13-6. The Chargers made sure things stayed close, scoring on a second touchdown run from Hebert, this one from 2 yards out, with only :19 left in the second quarter, to make it 13-12, a score that held up as the two teams headed into the halftime break. "That was a big 8-minute drive where he got points," said Gable. "That was our style of football, and I can't say enough about how well the offensive line blocked, and how hard the back ran." After a scoreless third quarter, Westminster-Lafayette grabbed the lead at the 11:52 mark of the final quarter, when Gavyn Hebert scored on fourth down, 30-yard run, his third touchdown of the evening, prior to a two-point conversion run by quarterback Zade Prejean, which gave them a 20-13 advantage. "Part of our offense, the veer offense, is to set them (defense) up by running the ball in between the tackles," Gable said. "They (VC) kind of sent some pressure, some A-gap pressure, thinking that we were going to run a dive, but we gave it to Gavyn outside and he made a big play." Refusing to give up, VC closed the gap to 20-19 at the 8:55 mark of the fourth quarter, when McLain scored on a 15-yard run, before Westminster-Lafayette partially blocked the PAT to secure the one-point win, arguably the biggest in program history. "A lot of people probably didn't think we'd go 7-3 last year, and then 6-4 this year, and some of the success that we've had," Gable said. "But in our locker room we did think we could accomplish those things. And while I'm super proud of these guys, we've got to keep it going now. We can't be satisfied." Gable is referring to the playoff pairings, which will be released over the weekend, with a chance for the Chargers to secure their first-ever playoff win. "Last year's senior class really set the tone. I was a new coach coming in, and they really bought in and kind of set the culture," Gable said. "This year's senior class really built on that and continued the tradition through a lot of adversity, and I couldn't be any prouder of them." With the victory, Westminster-Lafayette ended its regular season with an overall record of 6-4, while Vermilion Catholic dropped to 4-6. "Your first goal, every year, is to make the playoffs, and then you just want to win every game you can," Gable said. "I try not to look ahead, so we just focused on Vermilion Catholic, but we're just happy we're going to be in, and we're going to try to put together a good game plan and try to play our best football." No, Friday night's win wasn't a playoff win, but judging from the win, and what they've accomplished over their first two years of play in the LHSAA, Westminster-Christian should get their first postseason triumph pretty soon.
