On a crisp and cool night in Covington, Louisiana we find ourselves set up for a great David versus Goliath matchup as the 3-3 Northlake Christian Wolverines would take on the undefeated 6-0 Pope John Paul II Jaguars.
Pope coming into the game was averaging around 40 points per game with their high powered Wing-T Naval Academy style offense, the Wolverines would be up to the task tonight as they defeated the Jaguars 27-21.
To start the game off, Pope would receive the opening possession to the 25 yard line, but penalties would back them up five yards.
Junior RB Josh Greenwood would get the first carry of the night for the Jaguars and pick up a good gain of 18 yards, but it was Junior QB Everett Gibbs that would get the Jaguars moving with multiple chunk yard gains on the ground.
Back to back penalties would kill the opening drive for the Jaguars as well as an interception with 9:28 to go in the first quarter. Wolverines would have the ball to start on the 29 yard line.
Wolverines would start off on offense going to their passing attack early with QB Luke LeBlanc would find WR Charlie Gilmore multiple times on the drive.
The Jaguars defense would come up big on a third and long and force the Wolverines to punt the ball away with 6:47 in the first quarter,
Both team’s defenses did not give an inch to start the game. The Wolverines would draw first blood with a short Field Goal with 8:21 to go in the second quarter to put them up 3-0.
Later on in the second quarter, Coach Willis would call and dial up a trick play for his Wolverine’s offense. RB Colton West on the Halfback Pass would find WR Charlie Gilmore for the 23 yard touchdown. Wolverines would convert on the two point conversion to bring their lead to 11-0 with a little over a minute to go in the first half.
Before the first half ended chaos happened. Jaguars QB Everett Gibbs launches a Hail Mary pass to Senior TE Andrew Hoff for a 49 yard touchdown with just 13 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
RB Gus Pizza runs it in for the two point conversion to cut into the Wolverines lead 11-8. Pope John Paul would come out of the locker room with tricks of their own. Running an ambush style onside kick and recovering it easily.
The Jaguars would ride the hot hand on the drive which would be RB Gus Pizza with a few chunk plays to get the Jaguars down to the red zone, but it was RB Josh Greenwood on the motioned 3 yard pitch play that would get Pope into the end zone and give the Jaguars their first lead of the night. With 9:13 to go in the third quarter the Jaguars now have a 15-11 lead.
Northlake Christian would be set up in good field position after a good return by WR Charlie Gilmore to the 44 yard line.
Charlie Gilmore was the top target on the impending drive. QB Luke LeBlanc would find Gilmore yet again for a long 28 yard touchdown to put the Wolverines back on top, and after the two point conversion, the Wolverines now with a 19-15 lead with just under seven minutes to go in the third quarter.
Pope on the ensuing drive would be knocked back for multiple tackles for loss because of the big man clogging up the middle, Senior DT Lee Dauterive. Dauterive would wreak havoc all second half on the Pope offense.
Northlake’s defense would force a punt, shifting all momentum their way and after three quarters the underdog Wolverines have a 19-15 lead.
The fourth quarter is when the Wolverines would go to their ground attack and chew up the clock, but the Jaguars defense would prevail and force a punt with 9:50 to go in the fourth.
Pope would drive the ball all the way to the 2 yard line but would be stopped by none other than the big man in the middle, Lee Dauterive, yet again.
Northlake takes over with their backs up against their own goal line, but would be able to prevail. QB Luke LeBlanc would dump a pass off to his Senior TE Gavin Hunter where he would shed off a few tackles and run it all the way for the 94 yard touchdown to increase the Wolverines’ lead after the two point conversion to 27-15.
With clock being a factor, and being down two scores Pope would have their work cut out for them. With 2:51 left in the game QB Everett Gibbs is picked off by the player of the game tonight WR Charlie Gilmore in the back of the end zone.
Pope would get the ball back quickly, and score with no timeouts left. They would fail to recover the onside kick and the Wolverines dealt the Jaguars their first loss of the season with a final score of 27-21.
Check out the postgame interview with Northlake’s Head Coach James Willis.
