By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
CROWLEY – Tripp Bachman’s blocked punt, returned 18 yards for a touchdown by Chance Freeman, got Calvary going when nothing was going right in the first quarter Friday night.
When the season was on the brink with 40 seconds left, Jacob Tibbett saved the Cavaliers by blocking a potential game-winning Notre Dame field goal.
A short while later, Connor Brookshire, Kole Green and Delancey “D2” Street delivered the knockout blow in Calvary’s 34-28 overtime victory in a Select Division III semifinal epic at Gardiner Memorial Stadium.
It was a fourth-down, 2 ½ yards to go, everything-on-the-line, last-play stop of the Pios’ sensational senior running back Joachim Bourgeois a yard outside the goalline, capping a five-play defensive series that denied second-seeded Notre Dame its first trip to the Caesars Superdome since 2018.
“They were waiting for it,” said Bourgeois, who ran for 1,972 yards in his senior season, 147 against the sixth-seeded Cavaliers, but needed one more he didn’t get. “I couldn’t get through. I think they stuffed me pretty good.”
Instead, the visitors from Shreveport and their fans staged a victory dance on the soggy grass field for 4-5 minutes, celebrating a very unexpected berth in the state final at the ‘Dome Thursday night at 7 against another surprise finalist, Dunham of Baton Rouge, which won 49-48 at top-seeded Lafayette Christian in the other D-3 semi.
“We lost a lot of guys (30 players, 17 starters from last year’s state semifinalists),” said undersized linebacker Mason Gourley. “Everybody thought we were nothing, but look where we are now.”
The Cavaliers are 12-1, bound for the ‘Dome for the second time, hoping to repeat their 2023 visit that produced a last-minute 34-28 (that score again) championship comeback victory over St. Charles Catholic. Their coach, Rodney Guin, became the winningest high school coach in Caddo-Bossier history with Friday’s triumph, the 217th of his 24-year career, the last eight with the Cavs.
“It’s hard on an old man,” he said moments later, grinning in between hugs, then noting the last two seasons have ended with dramatics in the final seconds – the 2023 triumph followed by the agony of a homefield semifinal loss last year to eventual state champ Catholic-New Iberia, who scored twice in the final 1:02, sandwiched around an onside kick that triggered a 33-31 stunner in the 2024 semis.
This time, thanks to a turnaround in the middle of the game as the Pios (11-2) threatened to build a three-score lead, and the game-ending heroics by the defense, the Cavaliers rode north very happy for a second straight week after beating a higher seed.
Considering Bourgeois, who threw a first-half 66-yard halfback pass for a TD and a 21-7 lead, accounted for 232 of Notre Dame’s 372 total yards, there was little mystery about who would get the call on fourth down in overtime. The Cavaliers had quickly taken the OT advantage with a second-down, 6-yard toss from Hudson Price to star receiver Braylun Huglon – on an ad-lib.
“That was actually not called,” said Price, “but I saw him 1-on-1 and I just threw it.”
Huglon did what he does, putting an ankle-breaking move on his defender for his third TD catch of the night and 21st of the season. His second one, a 69-yarder, gave Calvary a 28-21 edge late in the third period – the third straight series the Cavs lit up the scoreboard.
“I saw everybody in the box was blitzing, and coach called the hitch. Hudson saw (the defensive back) was playing off a little bit, threw it, and I had to win the 1-on-1 backside,” he said. “Once I did, I knew I was going to the races, touchdown.”
Their 6-yard hookup on the previous possession drew the Cavs even at 21. Price had finished the first half on a 10-yard rollout that closed the gap to 21-14 nine seconds before the break, capping a 7-play, 55-yard drive in the last three minutes.
Calvary’s three-series roll from two scores down to a TD lead midway through the second half was answered by a 14-play Notre Dame drive, keyed by a 9-yard Bourgeois pass on a fake punt, and ending with his 3-yard run out of the Pios’ stacked I version of the tush push with 8:50 to go in the fourth period.
Then ND was poised to win before Tibbett’s field goal block with 31 seconds left forced overtime.
“I don’t want to say I did, but I did touch the ball,” he said, quickly sharing credit. “But everybody did.”
In OT, after Huglon’s TD catch, the Cavs momentarily appeared to have won it on a fourth-down pass breakup from the 5, but an interference flag gave Notre Dame one more chance from outside the 2.
“We watched out for Bourgeois every play. That particular play for sure,” said Guin. “We kinda knew what they were gonna do. You’ve gotta be man enough to stop it. If I had him, on big plays, he’s getting the ball.
“(In) the stacked I stuff, they run the ball 90 percent of the time. We got enough bodies up in there to hold them.”
Defensive coordinator Mark Miller was worried about the other 10 percent of the time.
“I was looking outside, because I thought they were about to throw it. And they cut back underneath. Our interior line, all night, was tough,” he said. “Sixteen (Bourgeois) is a special dude. We knew we’d run the risk of him running outside a lot, but he’d been creasing everybody with that ISO, and we were not going to give up the ISO. We committed to it, and they beat us on the edge quite a few times, but at the end, he cut back up inside and that’s where we’d been strong all night.”
It was vital because the Pios had blocked the Cavs’ extra point after the OT TD.
Senior middle linebacker Justin Reeves didn’t want the outcome resolved on a Notre Dame PAT kick – especially not with Tibbett laying in the mud on the sideline, overwhelmed by cramps after his field goal block.
“We were running real tired, and just had to find that next gear, dig deep,” said Reeves. “I was on ‘E’ – everybody was. We found a way to win.
“I can’t even describe what that feeling was in that moment. We got it done.”
“We didn’t come here to lose this game,” said Gourley. “We were gonna die before we lost this game.”
“It’s a storybook ending tonight,” said Miller. “I’m so proud of them. Whatever happens next week, we have an opportunity, and I’ll bet on my dudes any day of the week.”
This Thursday night in New Orleans, he will again.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com