By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
LAFAYETTE – The collision was jarring. Both of them. Both on the south goalline.
One strangely, controversially provided Lafayette Christian Academy the opportunity for a go-ahead field goal late in the third quarter, edging the Knights on top of Evangel 24-22 Thursday night.
That score held up because of the second one.
After a clutch nine-play drive in the final three minutes, Evangel was denied the game-winning touchdown with 26 seconds remaining. Eagles’ superstar junior quarterback Pop Houston, whose scrambling ability is as good as it gets, tucked it under pressure in the face of excellent coverage by the LCA secondary, on third down from the home team’s 15.
Houston burst between defenders down the left side to open space, and as some Knights converged, veered slightly inside approaching the goalline. He was met there by safety Luke Green, who delivered a big knock inside the 1, as Houston twisted and tried to reach the ball across the scoring stripe.
Mistake, he said moments later. The ball squirted loose, bounded a few yards into the end zone, and LCA’s Davion Batiste barely beat Evangel’s Demarkus Evans to recover it.
The side judge near the play was back around the 5. Officials conferred momentarily, and then signalled touchback, LCA ball.
The Knights, No. 1 in Class 2A, were 8-1. The Eagles, with a 2A enrollment but playing up and ranked No. 8 in 5A, were suddenly 7-2.
“It was a last-minute effort, but you’ve got to have two hands on the ball,” said Houston. “Kudos to Number 3 (Green, a UL Lafayette commitment). He did a good job of coming down and filling that gap. I wish I had made a different decision rather than reaching out one-handed.”
Green provided his perspective.
“I saw him make a move with the ball, but he handled it kind of funny, and he made a move inside. I broke off my coverage and was able to put my body in the right position to make him fumble.”
Batiste was in the right spot to save the night for the Knights.
“I saw Pop get loose, breaking our contain. I took off running to the ball, and luckily enough, when it came out, I was there to recover it. The first thing I thought was, they’re going to call it a touchdown. I didn’t hear any whistles, and I heard my teammates say, ‘we’ve got the ball,’ and I knew we had won the game,” he said.
Lee’s tackle stood up Houston, as the 2027 LSU commitment tried to knife across at the 1.
“Actually, less than that,” said Evangel coach Denny Duron. “He was right at the goalline.
“We didn’t get in, but it was that close. It’s tough to lose like that,” said Duron, “but we didn’t lose on that play. We had a lot of plays we lost on. It wasn’t typical of us to do that, but we played a mistake-filled game, and the Number 6 team in the state (in composite MaxPreps rankings) beat us two points. Maybe we’re a pretty good football team this year.”
The march toward the potential game-winner was tense and impressive.
“We work on the two-minute drill every day. We expected to get it down there,” said Houston “We expected to score.”
His coach was proud of his junior quarterback, who screamed at himself as he trotted off the field after the fumble.
“What he did was magnificent. It didn’t end well, but even the run he made on the last play to get there was magnificent,” said Duron. “People are leaving the stadium knowing that when he gets to Baton Rouge after next season, LSU is blessed to have that young man coming their way.”
Another Houston scramble, in the second quarter, was eye-popping. He couldn’t find an open receiver, ran toward the Evangel sideline, cut up, then swung all the way over to the LCA bench, and outran the pursuit to the right pylon for a 61-yard TD. Damari Drake’s two-point conversion run closed the gap to 21-15, which is where it stood until halftime.
“Crazy. Pop’s had a lot but that was the best,” said Duron.
“That’s a great athlete, and great athletes make great plays,” said LCA’s Green. “I’ve got to give it to him, that was a phenomenal play.”
Said Houston: “I don’t know what to say about it. Right now in this moment, I’ve got a little bit of anger, so I can’t speak too much about it,” he paused briefly, “but I think it was a pretty good run.”
The Eagles defense came up with a turnover when Seth Collins intercepted at the Knights’ 39 a few minutes into the third quarter. Drake plowed eight yards for the tying TD and A.J. Robinson’s PAT kick boosted the visitors up 22-21 at the 7:06 mark.
Five minutes later, LCA got a puzzling break.
The Knights faced fourth-and-goal back at the 24, and a well-thrown pass found a receiver with his back to the end zone in the middle of the field just outside the goalline. Evangel defensive back Rico Williams slammed into the receiver’s back, knocking the ball loose and giving it to the Eagles on downs, preserving the lead.
Until the flag fluttered in. The referee announced “illegal contact on a defenseless receiver.” The Eagles’ bench justifiably howled. The penalty moved the ball to the 12, and an offsides infraction got it to the 7. That was close enough for Knights’ kicker Jude Hernandez to manage a 24-yard field goal for a 24-22 lead.
“The call was so bad,” said Duron, who until after the game, thought the penalty was interference. “The receiver clearly caught the ball, got hit and coughed it up.”
When Duron was told what the flag was for, he looked into the night and walked away, with a stern, frustrated expression.
“You win, or learn,” he said. “Our kids can’t second guess themselves. Our defense was amazing when they had to be tonight. LCA has been scoring a lot of points. They did not tonight.”
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com