Hamilton Christian added some weight to its impressive start to the season by knocking off defending District 4-1A champion and previously undefeated Basile 22-8 Friday night at Cougar Stadium.

The Bearcats (4-1, 1-1), ranked fifth in the state, never led — and trailed after the first play from scrimmage when Warriors quarterback Julian Marcantel connected with Chris Elly on a 57-yard touchdown pass.

The Warriors (4-1, 2-0) added a safety and 2-yard touchdown run by Deaundre Dejean to stretch the lead to 15-0 midway through the second quarter.

Basile narrowed the deficit to 15-8 on a 2-yard run by Gabe Fontenot, but Hamilton capped the scoring a minute later on a 36-yard pass from Marcantel to Brandon Blackwell.

Basile drove the length of the field to start the second half, but Kendrick Ceaser was pushed out of bounds at the 2-yard line on fourth down to end the drive.

Ceaser ran for 132 yards on 20 carries but had few big plays.

“Their ends (Blackwell and Easton Massey) put so much pressure on our edges,” said Basile head coach Kevin Bertrand. “They beat us up front and that’s what started it all, on both sides of the ball. We talked at halftime about going right at them and were able to do that, but things got tightened up; they made a great play on defense and kept us out. That was a big point in the game, it took us a while to get the ball back.”

Elly led Hamilton with 84 yards of offense and intercepted a pass. Massey had three tackles for loss and he and Blackwell each had a sack.

“This means the whole world to us,” said Hamilton head coach Tim Sensley. “We went in as the underdog and not many people believed in us. I felt something special about this team. I knew if we could go out and play as a team, compete and not do things to hurt ourselves, we would win.

“We tried to have gap control and stretch Ceaser out so he would run out of real estate. (The fourth-down play on the first third-quarter possession) was a momentum changer. If they score it is a one-possession game. It stagnated them and killed the momentum. We were able to go down the field, kill some time and put our defense in a position where their backs were not against the wall.”

Sensley said the offensive line allowed the Warriors to have balance.

“We blocked, opened up holes and gave Julian time to throw the ball,” Sensley said. “We set the tempo from the opening snap, got a touchdown and kind of put them on their heels. Then we got the safety and they were kind of stunned. Massey stepped up big for us this week. We want to send the senior class out with a bang. They had never beaten Basile before.”(Kirk Meche/Special to the American Press)

Kirk Meche