For the first time since 1988, Bunkie is only one game away from the Superdome. They haven’t been this close in 36 years. This is a team that Panther nation will never forget.
That’s the one takeaway, the one stat that matters more than anything else in Bunkie’s 14-12 victory over the Jewel Sumner Cowboys. Nobody is going to remember the struggles; they will just remember the legends, the key plays made to clinch Bunkie’s deepest playoff run in 36 years.
While this night will go down as a huge victory for Bunkie, the first half was all Cowboys. Jewel Sumner led at halftime 6-0, getting the exact kind of game they wanted. This was a really short game, done before most others this round, largely because of Jewel Sumner’s playstyle. There were very few possessions in the game. Even without star RB Jamohn Dyson, they were able to play keep away from Bunkie’s scary offense, dominating in the trenches and sustaining long drives. Jewel Sumner got yards in 5-10 yard chunks, and their defense completely took away the explosive play. The D-line shut down the Panther run game, and Dillon Compton was never able to take the top off the defense by getting a ball to his top weapon Kyle Johnson. The Bunkie offense looked completely discombobulated in the first half, with every positive play feeling like a monumental effort just to pull off. Jewel Sumner eventually broke through to score the first half’s only points with a Kendell Brown run (to make the score 6-0 due to a missed PAT), who did a nice job carrying the load in Dyson’s absence alongside Jeremiah Brooks. Brown finished the game with 88 yards on the ground, and Brooks finished with 89.
Bunkie responded in the 2nd half, not by changing the flow of the game, but by playing well within its suffocating confines. The Bunkie offense only held the ball twice in the entire 2nd half, but they made them count. On the Panthers’ first possession, they took what the defense gave them, finally getting into a rhythm on offense and driving down the field with a long drive of their own. It was capped off by a Kyle Johnson score, not through the air, but on the ground instead. Bunkie, seemingly without a kicker, successfully converted a 2pt conversion via a Dillon Compton run in order to take the lead 8-6.
Jewel Sumner responded by driving down the field before coming up short and failing a 4th down conversion around the Bunkie 30 yard line. Bunkie went backwards and needed to punt, a daunting task. Special teams was a nightmare all game for both teams. The kickoffs looked clunky, neither team could kick an extra point, and the punters were inconsistent. Jewel Sumner saw a punt go short giving Bunkie their best scoring opportunity of the first half (where they failed on 4th down because they couldn’t kick a field goal), and Bunkie’s punting woes reared their ugly head here. After a high snap, the punt was rushed and shanked, giving Jewel Sumner the ball back at the Bunkie 31 yard line, almost exactly where they left their last possession, and thus the best field position either team had all game.
With about 6 minutes left in the game, this could be Jewel Sumner’s last chance to take the lead down 8-6. After a couple of plays moving closer, we saw one of the biggest plays of both the game and Bunkie’s recent history. With the defense’s back against the wall in the redzone, one of the Panther playmakers made the biggest play of the season. Ron Patterson picked off Ke’Maury Warren and ran it back for an 89 yard pick six, completely swinging the momentum back in Bunkie’s favor. However, the 2pt try was unsuccessful, making the score only 14-6 with 5 minutes left, and Jewel Sumner would get the ball back immediately, meaning the game was far from over.
Jewel Sumner took the ball back and did what they do best; a long, suffocating drive where clutch plays were made time after time to keep their season alive. The drive saw two 4th down conversions with the Cowboys’ entire season on the line, and every play paid off as they got the ball into the endzone with less than a minute to go in order to get a chance to tie things up, making the score 14-12.
On that final game-tying 2pt try, however, they came up just short. Kendell Brown got the hand off, bounced it out left, and couldn’t quite get to the endzone pylon as he was stopped by Kyle Johnson, the superstar CB. He was playing both ways all game, and while his final stat line was unspectacular, he made the big plays when they mattered most, showing why he might even be a better CB prospect than WR prospect.
This play, alongside the Ron Patterson pick six, will live in Bunkie Football lore forever. You don’t make the plays to give the Panthers their best state championship run in almost 40 years without doing that. This is a day that the school and area will never forget.
That being said, for the team, they have another game to play now. They will go to Dunham after the Tigers’ crazy 4th quarter comeback to beat LCA. That game will be next week with a spot in the Superdome up for grabs. For Jewel Sumner, their season ends here in the quarterfinals. It’s a bitter ending for the team, but still a successful season for the Cowboys.
Check out our interview with Bunkie Head Coach Jimmie Hillman!
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