More than anything, Acadiana needed a win.

After a rough two-patch, the Wreckin’ Rams left no doubt Thursday against Sulphur and got that win, a dominant 58-25 performance.

Acadiana coach Doug Dotson said any win in district 3-5A is a good win, but despite the dominance the Rams showed on the field, Dotson admitted he was never comfortable.

“I never felt safe; I never felt like we were up enough,” Dotson said. “Sulphur is a good team and they were onside kicking every time they had a chance. They tried to attack us and they had a good offensive game plan.

“Every one of our backs was out, but those young guys did a tremendous job of filling those spots and having a big night.”

With the top four running backs – DeShun Lightfoot, Sy Joseph, Ashton Fontenot and Holden Sam – all sidelined Thursday, the Rams relied on little-known names who made a big impact. Acadiana ran for more than 300 yards and got a pair of touchdowns a piece from Ashton Barras, Brooklyn Lewis and James Brown.

Dotson said the Rams want to throw the football when the opportunity presents itself, but the emphasis Thursday was establishing the run.

“There are things you have to take when you run this offense,” Dotson said. “We would like to be able to throw it. We had a touchdown down the field and we missed it. When we get man to man coverage, we get everybody flying down on the pitch or on the dive. We got to hit the wide-open guys for touchdowns.

“It's something we got to work on and we're close. If we can if we can clean up some things, we’re there. I feel like our young backs are good and Ashton Barras is a senior who has waited his time and he played well tonight. No matter how good your O-Line is, if the backs aren’t hitting the hole, you won’t see a good result. The two merged well tonight.”

The Acadiana defense had a high-effort performance Thursday, no doubt impacted by the return of Beckham Guidry and Tristan Robert, who both missed last week’s game at Sam Houston.

The Rams forced four turnovers, including two interceptions and a pick six from Robert. Dotson said he was pleased with the effort of the defense despite giving up those big plays.

“I thought we tackled well early, but we’ve been giving up those big ones,” Dotson said. “We’ve gotta get that cleaned up but look, it’s not for lack of effort. We are finding guys to make plays and you saw what Tristian did tonight. Those are things that we need from him. We missed him the last couple of weeks and we got Beckham back as well. Getting those guys back, I think, reinvigorated our defense.”

Dotson said he knows the Rams haven’t played their best football of the season. He said he never felt like things were too far off track, despite the two setbacks against Barbe and Sam Houston.

Dotson said the goal the rest of the way is to restore the tenacity that has defined the program.

“We have to bring back the toughness to what we're doing,” Dotson said. “Hopefully in these next couple of weeks, we can get it going in the right direction. I think our best football is still ahead of us. A win like this (against Sulphur) shows that we can bounce back.

"We know we got two tough ones ahead of us in Southside and Lafayette. The challenge is there and I think tonight showed that we can be up for it.”