By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
In a sensational state semifinal game filled with dynamic plays, a last-minute lucky bounce was pivotal Friday night.
Catholic-New Iberia’s first onside kick of the year, with 1:02 to go, worked better than it ever had in practice. The Panthers, on the road, down by one to defending state champion Calvary after failing on a go-ahead two-point conversion pass, were in a do-or-die situation facing extreme odds.
But Bennett Boudreaux’s kickoff toward the home sideline got a very beneficial big bounce. It forced a Calvary up man to leap, reaching above his head trying to snag the ball. Instead, it skipped off his hands, went a few yards downfield, and Catholic linebacker Chris Green snatched it at the Calvary 44-yard-line.
The seventh-seeded Panthers moved 33 yards, the last 10 on a penalty for an extra defender on the field, and Boudreaux booted a 26-yard field goal with one second remaining to seal a 33-31 upset of the No. 3 Cavaliers at a jammed-full Jerry Barker Stadium.
As for that decisive big bounce:
“I kinda got lucky on that, I’ll be honest,” said Boudreaux. “Onside kicks, you don’t really know where they’re going. It definitely got a great bounce.
“We don’t really practice it that much (every Thursday, said winning coach Matthew Desormeaux; just 2-3 reps weekly, said Boudreaux), but we definitely know what to do on it and we were prepared.”
It had never worked that well, and rarely worked at all, said Green.
“Most of the time (in practice) we have struggles with it,” he said, “but tonight we executed it perfectly.”
“It was a perfect kick,” said Calvary’s deep man on the kickoff, senior receiver Kolby Thomas. “Could have been gotten, but didn’t fall our way.”
“It was a great onside kick, perfect, a high bounce,” said Cavaliers’ coach Rodney Guin.
That was not the last sink-or-swim moment that Catholic converted in the waning seconds.
Four plays later, the Panthers had gone nowhere until lefty quarterback Luke Landry rolled toward his sideline and hit a sliding Jake Wyman on a comebacker for 11 yards to convert fourth down and survive.
Another two first downs, and Boudreaux came on with the ball in prime position near the middle of the field and five seconds left. Although just 3-of-7 on field goals entering the night, the senior made the game-winner look routine.
“I was trying not to think about it, most of the time. I practice so much it was just second nature.”
Even though just one tick remained, it was impossible to dismiss Calvary – which won last year’s state title with a last-minute 51-yard drive capped by Thomas’ 20-yard catch from Wardell with 18 seconds left. Fifty-one weeks later, Thomas fielded Boudreaux’s final kickoff, hurried upfield, got hemmed in on the Cavs’ sideline near the 35, tossed it across to Julius Moss, and after another couple flips, there was a moment when the home team seemed to have an alley upfield. But there was not another miracle.
“I never ruled it out. I just knew we had to make something happen, and I went left, and threw it back to to Julius … and we couldn’t quite get it done,” said Thomas, getting choked up.
Calvary (10-3), which made big plays routinely all season, struggled to dial long distance against Catholic (12-1). The Cavs scored on drives of 13, 8, 12 and 12 plays before finally taking their last lead, 31-24 with 1:57 to go, on a darting 25-yard bolt by Moss to cap a vintage five-snap, 62-yard march.
“I felt we were winding down on a win, and after we scored on the (Moss) run, I definitely thought we were going to win,” said Wardell, “but that’s football.”
“Their plan was to take away the deep shots,” he said after completing 17 of 22 for 190 yards. “Their linebackers were dropping deep, the corners were dropping deep, making us dink and dunk. We had to take what they gave us.”
Echoed Guin: “We had to throw a lot of underneath stuff. They’re good on the back end, we knew that. I think we played pretty good on offense, we just couldn’t get any big plays on them and it makes it a little harder to score.”
In the final, frantic 7:31, there were five scoreboard updates, including a tie and two lead changes. In the aftermath, an early failure to get on the board first haunted Calvary.
James Simon exploded for 41 yards on the Cavs’ opening play. Seven snaps later, on third down, Wardell scrambled from the 5 into two defenders at the goalline. Officials ruled he finished a foot shy.
“I thought I got in, that the ball was across the line, but they called it differently,” he said. “We had to score on fourth down.”
They didn’t, although Simon, in a wildcat set, bulled across on the next snap. It didn’t count. Illegal procedure pushed Calvary back five yards so Guin sent Ty Knight out for a field goal from the left hash.
“We should have scored,” said Guin. “We got down inside the 1-yard line, and had a little momentum. We got a penalty. You can’t make mistakes in a game like this. Seven points are big, and then we didn’t get the field goal out of it (a subpar snap, and a just-wide-left 23-yarder), and that would have been big, too.”
It ultimately would have been the margin of victory is all. Instead, the visitors celebrated wildly in the 41-degree night, and tears of devastation fell all across the north end of the field.
“After the hurt wears off, and it will, here in a few days … ” said Guin, hesitating briefly.
“We’ve been on the good end of a bunch of games. These guys have won 43 games in four years, more than any class at the school, and they’ll remember that, in a couple days, and be proud of what they did. We just have to live with a tough one right now.”
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com