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Kaplan's Drake Abshire (7) tries to bring down a Richwood runner.

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Lane Marceaux of Kaplan goes low to tackle a Rams runner.

Richwood stops Kaplan from going to the Superdome

KAPLAN - The best way to beat the Kaplan Pirates is to keep their offense off the field. That is what the Richwood Rams did Friday night in front a packed E.D, Memorial Field crowd.
In the final 7:30 minutes of the game, the Rams pounded the ball down the gut of the Pirates defense, which led to a 15-8 victory over Kaplan.
It is the second straight year Kaplan falls in the Class 3A semifinals.
The Rams scored the ago-ahead touchdown with 3:48 to play in the game. It capped off a 50-yard, 8-play drive, which featured all running plays.
“We normally go with the spread offense, but I knew would could run the football up the middle,” said Richwood head coach Robert Arvie. “I told my offensive coordinator to quit throwing and just pound it.”
On the game-winning drive, Richwood tailback darted 27 yards for a first down and put the ball down to the Kaplan 28-yard-line.
The Rams drove down to the 3-yard line and called time out when they were facing a fourth down from three. After back to back time outs to figure out if they wanted to kick a field goal or go for it, the Rams went for it on fourth down. Watson found a hole to run through thanks to a massive offensive line. The two-point conversion gave the Rams a 15-8 lead.
Kaplan got one more possession with four minutes to play in the game but would turn the ball over.
“They pretty much played our game,” said Kaplan head coach Stephen Lotief. “They just stayed on the field a lot longer on offense than we did. It’s harder to play defense than offense.”
The Pirates were without fullback Braylon Romero, who broke his foot against St. James. Taking over at fullback was Rhett Menard, who also played linebacker.
Kaplan’s quarterback, Trae Case, played all game with a hurt ankle.
KHS did not score in the first half and was down 7-0.
Kaplan did manage to put together a 92-yard drive capped off with an 18-yard scoring run by Thibeaux with 3:51 left in the third frame. Menard scored two points for KHS, as the Pirates went ahead, 8-7.
It remained that way until the Rams scored the game-winner with four minutes to play in the game.
“We lost to a good team. We made mistakes and you can not do that against a team like Richwood,” Lotief added.
The Pirates had a chance to score in the second quarter. On a fourth down, from the 2, Richwood stopped them.
“They didn’t do much different than what we thought,” Lotief said. “They just outweighed us so much. We held them to 15 points, and we had our chances. The fourth-and-goal, they got theirs and we didn’t. That happens.”
Eighth-seeded Richwood (11-3) will meet West Feliciana, a 45-26 winner over Jennings, in next Friday’s Class 3A title game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Thibeaux finished with 116 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown.
Watson led his team with 21 carries for 105 yards and a score.

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