Can’t remember when my pal wearing stripes said it first.
Not sure which of the 22 touchdowns scored in last Thursday night’s Captain Shreve-Evangel fireworks show prompted his unabashed amazement.
“Duggie, I ain’t never seen anything like this,” said one of the officiating crew, grinning more than a little bit, hustling downfield to get ready for another kickoff.
Turns out nobody else had, either.
He said it another 2-3 times during the three hours and 36 minutes it took to finish Shreve’s 77-76 victory. The Gators and Eagles combined for a white-hot 153 points in 48 minutes off the game clock, plus four plays in one overtime period. Limit the math to regulation and that’s three points for every minute played, or a TD every two minutes and 24 seconds of game time.
Or, if you glanced at your wrist, just a bit shy of a point per minute (0.7, actually) in 216 minutes of lifetime.
The teams combined to top the national prep record in total yards, recording 1,816 (957 – also the best ever by any high school team — from Evangel; 859, 10th all-time on the national list, by Shreve), per research by esteemed local sportswriter Roy Lang III. That’s 11.6 yards per play. That’s insane.
(Must say that the officiating crew was as good as the offenses. In one of few breaks in the action late in the game, that was agreed upon by Roy and I working from the sidelines, where we saw up close some razor-thin calls that either stood up on quick replays on TV or still cameras, or were endorsed from our vantage point).
My pal used to referee flag football games in college. Now along with a full high school slate, he also works some small college games and Division I spring and preseason scrimmages. The highest scoring game in Shreveport-Bossier history, one which produced the most prolific passing total (817 yards) by any high school quarterback (Evangel sophomore Pop Houston), anywhere, any time, compelled him to send me a text as he left Lee Hedges Stadium.
“Call me when you get on the road to Natchitoches,” it read. I did. He wanted to talk about what he had just seen from a privileged viewpoint. So did I.
He’d never seen anything nearly like it. I had, just six days earlier in the same place. That one ended in regulation, Airline 69, Shreve 68. The Gators were a two-point conversion with 1:05 left away from a shocking upset of the unbeaten Vikings. That one was spectacular. The second one, even more extraordinary.
Another member of last Thursday’s crew works some FCS games. He, too, was astounded. We talked two days later, by chance.
The flag-bearing whistle-blowers separately had the same take.
The defenses weren’t inept. Not at all.
They praised Houston and his counterpart, Brodie Savage, who set a Shreve single-game passing record with 468 yards. They were impressed at the reads made, at the precision and timing of their throws, at their poise and competitiveness, and at the caliber of their targets.
It was my third straight week to see Evangel, and the second week in a row I covered the Gators. Savage was in peak form. ECA’s Houston, with offers in hand from Georgia and LSU and about to visit Alabama, lived up to billing against Byrd and Airline, and then found another level against Shreve. It was almost divine. He said it was –“God-given,” he explained after the sixth high school game he’s ever played.
They weren’t one-man bands. Both had an array of talented, explosive receivers. Savage’s running mate is converted cornerback Jamarcea Plater, who broke the school single-game rushing mark for a second straight week with 352 yards (18.5 per carry) and is the state leader this season with 1,575 yards, averaging 262.2 per game.
Speaking of state leaders, according to MaxPreps.com: No surprise, Houston is No. 1 in passing yards (2,598). Savage stands fourth (1,607). Two more locals are 2-3: last year’s leader, Airline’s Ben Taylor (2,350) and Calvary’s Abram Wardell (1,832).
The top four receivers are all locals, too: Airline’s Kenny Darby (907), Kolby Thomas of Calvary (733), the Vikings’ Jarvis Davis (710) and Evangel’s Johnny Casey (675).
Those numbers add fuel to the predictably snarky social media comments about local defenses. Not so fast, friends.
In Wednesday’s SBJ Coaches’ Roundtable (click over to check it out), eight local experts gave very reasonable explanations that defended the defenders.
In old school football, coaches said that all 11 players had to execute well for the offense’s play to succeed, while only one defender had to excel to stop the ball. That was then. This is now.
Thanks to the variety of schemes from week to week, constant creativity, the recent evolution of rules from the NFL on down favoring offenses for more fan-friendly action, and the appeal of playing on the scoring side of the ball, Shreveport-Bossier is the epicenter of high school football eruptions.
Not because the defenses rest.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com