On a rare cool spring evening in south Louisiana, you could have stumbled on the only football game in a small rural town of Lacombe, Louisiana. The Bayou Lacombe Cardinals are in their first season, and so far this season they have amassed a 5-2 regular season record. “We wanted to build a family fun environment for local residents,” said Blaine Bond, head football coach for the Cardinals.
I wanted to experience this “family environment,” after all I have attended a lot of semi-pro team games. I brought my wife along this time and she could not stop talking about how the Cardinals acted like professionals and even had things for the kiddos. During halftime they passed out glow in the dark balls for the kids, as well as allowed them to run onto the field and play pass. With my experiences in semi-pro, this was truly a family environment and kid friendly. For $10, you cannot beat the price for attendance compared to the other things you can do. For a family of four to go to the movies, you could easily fork out a $100 for an hour and half of entertainment.
To start the game, the Cardinals invited Anthony Cuccia for the coin toss. Anthony is a representative for all wounded warriors.
During the first quarter, the Cardinals got on early lead in the game by scoring 14 unanswered points. Their offense was working like a well oiled machine with Daniel Sams, prior QB for the McNeese State Cowboys, scoring the two touchdowns as a receiver.
The second quarter was a different story though. The Crusaders started the quarter with a touchdown and completed a two point conversion. It was a tail of two quarters. After a touchdown on their third possession, the Cardinals went up 20-8. All of a sudden, it was as if the Crusaders finally woke up and figured out how to play against the spread offence. A few sacks and stopped offensive drives and a few more touchdowns, the Crusaders went up at halftime 22-20.
The second half of the game was a defensive battle for both teams. The Cardinals had several
opportunities to put the game away but failed to on a couple of failed defensive stands. The cardinals wound up loosing the contest by the score of 42-38.
Up until this game, the Cardinals had the number one defense in the league, but oddly enough, it was the defense that had failed to stop the Crusaders on their final drive. with this loss, the Cardinals are now the number three seed entering the playoffs.
For a first year team, the Cardinals have really built a great environment for families to come and be a part of. Blaine and Art have also built a winning program and has something to really improve upon. What I mean by that, is no matter how their season ends, next season has the potential to even be better.