For the first time in more than a decade, St. Thomas More football hosted Acadiana for a non-district matchup between the No. 4 and No. 5 ranked teams in Louisiana.

These two Lafayette-area powerhouses gave hundreds of their fans a physical, ground-and-pound game that pitted two heavyweights against each other.

“These are two of the best teams in the state, most definitely in the Lafayette area,” Acadiana football head coach Matt McCullough said. “We were finally able to get a day where we can play, and hopefully we do this for a long time. We're going to have a bunch of good football games like this because they do a great job and they got really good football players and our guys play hard.”

In this revival matchup, the Wreckin' Rams just played harder and beat the Cougars 20-7. Here are the key takeaways from their victory to put them at 2-1 this season.

Carrying the load

It was clear after a quarter of play that this game would be determined on the ground. Both teams kept pressure on the quarterbacks, while wide receivers had a hard time getting open. For Acadiana, this was no problem as its backfield consists of senior running backs Tayden “TC” Collins and Jonah Gauthier.

The two athletes took turns running it right down the heart of St. Thomas More’s defense, finding any running lane they could to get yardage. When it wasn’t them, senior quarterback Caden DiBetta would make it happen on the ground himself. Leading the rushing attack was Gauthier who finished the night with around 160 yards and a touchdown.

“We knew it was gonna be a game and that we had to come and give it our all,” Gauthier said. “Our offense we got some dogs in the backfield. Our running back group is just a bunch of good guys who can run the ball and do good things for our offense.”

As a team, the Wreckin' Rams rushed for about 280 yards — moving the chains every chance they got. Despite having a handful of fourth-down tries, they converted on most of them — keeping the Cougar defense on the field much longer than head coach Jim Hightower would’ve liked.

“We were able to get that last drive which was big and we kind of wore them down,” McCullough said. “They were on the field a lot. Our defense had a lot of three-and-outs and played about as well as you can play. We had a few execution things to work on but we were able to get the job done.”

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Bright side Broussard

While Acadiana’s defense got the job done tonight, St. Thomas More’s defense showed some grit as well. With the Cougars' offense struggling to find their rhythm all the weight was put on the defense’s shoulders. Senior cornerback Brian Broussard Jr. carried the weight in stride.

The 5-foot-10 cornerback scored the Cougars' lone touchdown of the game making a fumble recovery and returning over 50 yards for a score. That second-quarter touchdown gave his team the lead and some momentum for a little bit.

“He's a great player, and really proud of the effort he brings and the leadership he shows,” Hightower said. “It was a tough, physical ball club and game tonight. We just have to make more plays than we made. So hats off to Acadiana.”

Despite having the lead and some momentum, the Cougars offense couldn’t capitalize. After Broussard blocked a punt later in the game to put them in scoring position they staled out in the red zone. This would become the theme even in the final seconds of the game after junior quarterback Cole Bergeron made a big-time past to senior Aiden Falgout to get them yards shy of a touchdown.

The Wreckin’ Rams defense continued to have answers for whatever the Cougars tried to run and held their offense scoreless. With this loss, St. Thomas More drops to 1-2 and will be looking to bounce back in Week 4.

“We'll have to watch film and see,” Hightower said. “We've just got to keep working to get better and we got a lot of new faces trying to make their impact and it takes time.”

Shannon Belt covers high school sports and the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow her high school and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ShannonBelt3. Got questions regarding HS/UL athletics? Send them to Shannon Belt at sbelt@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Enforcing their will: Acadiana football holds STM offense scoreless