Southside football knew it had the game on lock. Before the clock expired, players were dancing on the sidelines to their roaring band, which played all night long as the Sharks hosted Lafayette for their Class 5A District 3 play opener at Comeaux High School.

By halftime, they were already up by a couple of scores and they kept the Lions in check for the remainder of the game to snag a 28-0 win.

“This win means we’re 1-0 in district and we’re on our way to being a team we want to be, the team we believe we can be,” Southside coach Jess Curtis said. “We want to start getting these district wins one a time taking it one week at a time. It’s a very tough district and you can’t just roll the ball out there you have to prepare Monday through Thursday.”

Here are the key takeaways from the well-prepared Sharks' shutout victory over Lafayette.

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Run it down their throats

While the Lions are known for their pass game, the Sharks are all about making it happen on the ground. That showed from their first drive of the game, running a triple option and marching down the field for their first touchdown on a 1-yard quarterback sneak from Parker Deis.

“We want to do what we do, which is move the chains,” Curtis said. “We like the analogy of a boxer going to the body, to the body, to the body, and then eventually the knockout. That’s who we are.”

The first body blow was followed by a flurry of body shots directed at Lafayette's run defense. The Sharks picked up first down after first down running the ball right up the gut daring the Lions to stop them. In the third quarter, already up 14-0, the knockout blow came.

Southside soaked up nearly seven minutes off the clock, running the ball down the Lions' throat. Leading the charge were running backs Justin Williams and Ramon Singleton Jr. Despite not scoring touchdowns, the duo continuously got the Sharks in scoring position rushing for a combined 150 yards.

Quarterback Cruz Holden also got involved in the rushing attack rushing for nearly 30 yards and touchdown. He also threw for a touchdown catching the Lions off guard in the fourth quarter.

Lafayette's offense stalls out

Ahead of the game, Curtis and his coaching staff had a game plan to limit Lafayette’s explosive offensive plays.

“They live off big plays offensively so for us we want to keep the momentum,” Curtis said. “We want to make sure we take the run away and make these guys one-dimensional. They like to throw it but I like taking the run away.”

The Sharks executed the game plan and then some limiting the Lions' offense to around 60 rushing yards. Snatching the ground game forced Lafayette’s two quarterbacks, junior John Carney and sophomore Richmond Saunier, to make it happen in the air.

The slingers dropped back with a sea of Sharks crowding the pocket hoping their pass found a receiver. Instead, it found Southside’s senior defensive back, Derrick Collins, who grabbed his first two interceptions of the season.

“I’m happy we just got to keep racking them up,” Collins said after his interceptions. “We game-planned for this, we knew what we had to do. We had to be hard-nosed, very physical, and ready to work. They ain’t really played anybody yet so we had to show them and introduce them to 5A football.”

Along with Collins' interceptions, the Sharks caused the Lions all kinds of problems in the red zone. From penalties to overthrown passes, Lafayette could never quite find its footing offensively. Senior wide receiver Kevon’te Landry broke out for a couple of plays, ending with two catches for around 80 yards.

“We pretty much shot ourselves in the foot, it was self-inflicted wounds,” Lafayette coach Garrett Kreamer said. “We gotta clean it up. I mean, whether it's the previous games or now, it's showing up now, so we gotta fix it.”

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: Southside football holds Lafayette scoreless in District play opener