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SULPHUR — Lake Charles College Prep is known for stretching the field with long passes, but the Trailblazers had different plans Thursday night at Matt Walker Memorial Stadium.

Quarterback Dillon Simon continually hit his receivers on short routes to lead LCCP team to a 21-18 win over the Sulphur Tors, its first against a Class 5A school.

“We showed resiliency,” LCCP head coach Erick Franklin said. “The team fought the entire game.

“We started off fast. We had a lot of plays that were called back that were big plays and we had some drives that were turnovers that could have been scores. But a good Sulphur team battled us to the end and we prevailed.”

Simon had 211 yards by halftime and two touchdowns and finished with 269 yards on 20 for 25 passing and scored a rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter.

“Like I told them, you have to take what they give you,” Franklin said. “We knew all week that we would have the opportunity to take the short routes.

“He executed the game plan outside of one play late in the game on the interception.”

On LCCP’s first drive, Simon hit Solomon Lewis for 10 yards and Jaylen Joseph for a 45-yard gain, but Joseph fumbled on the play. But it didn’t take long for the Trailblazers to get the ball back and Joseph made up for the fumble with a 26-yard touchdown reception for a 7-0 lead with 8:22 left in the first quarter.

With 2:28 left in the first quarter, Simon tossed a 15-yard pass to Solomon Lewis to put the Trailblazers up 14-7.

After struggling against Barbe at the SPOT Therapy/ Billy Navarre Jamboree last week, LCCP’s defense forced the Tors to turn the ball over on downs on their first possession and to punt from their end zone on the second. LCCP held Sulphur to 111 yards of total offense in the first half and 193 total yards.

“Everybody said the defense was going to be young and we were missing a lot of guys,” Franklin said. “We had a lot of young boys step up tonight.

“We have been working those young boys hard in practice to get them up to speed. One of the things that we have been saying is that we have to find our identity for this team and I think tonight they closed in on that.”

Sulphur tied the score at 7-7 with 5:23 left in the first half on a 25-yard pass from Jacob Clark to Gavin Elliott.

The Tors reached LCCP 10-yard line late in the second quarter with a chance to tie the score but lost 12 yards on two plays and missed a field goal attempt.

Sulphur had another chance to tie the score late in the third quarter but had to settle for a 42-yard Khory Bourdoin field goal to cut LCCP’s lead to 14-10.

Orenthal Lewis led the Trailblazers’ ground game with 11 carries for 72 yards and Trevonte Citizen added 66 yards on nine carries. Joseph finished with a game-high 120 yards on seven reception and Solomon Lewis added 66 yards on six catches.

Sophomore quarterback Tag Stelly led the Tors on a late-scoring drive with a 20-yard pass to Gavin Elliott to cut LCCP’s lead to 21-18 with 36 seconds left after a 2-point conversion pass to Jack Bouni. Elliott caught four passes for 52 yards and two touchdowns.

Sulphur’s defense forced two turnovers when linebacker Jace Dufresne recovered a fumble in the second quarter and safety Wesley Welch intercepted Simon in the end zone with 7:40 left in the game but the Tors couldn’t turn either into points.

LCCP 21, SHS 18

This story has been updated with more information apart from the original print version due to print deadlines.