The Ouachita Christian Eagles were able to pull off a key road victory against Ascension Catholic in order to advance to the Division IV Select Louisiana State Championship. The score in this monumental game was 24-22.
In tonight’s semifinals, we were able to witness two high level teams in this division compete against one another. However, the Eagles were able to come out on top of this matchup. This was a game that swung both ways and started with the team’s trading possessions. This eventually lead to an Ascension Catholic TD from Gavin Gregoire to put them up 8-0 in the first.
The Eagles were able to strike back on their next drive with a TD from Patrick Turpin. After this, the Eagles followed up on that score with a successful field goal, putting them up 10-7 midway through the second. However, the kickoff return immediately after was returned for a TD from Gavin Gregoire, which put the Bulldogs up 13-10 in the 2nd. The momentum was able to carry on until halftime for the Bulldogs as they were able to find Cy Landry wide open late for a TD, putting them up 20-10 at halftime.
It should be noted, Ascension Catholic was missing key player and Gridiron Football Bowl Game commit, Chad Elsy. However, Gavin Gregoire had two TDs in his absence and played Safety as well. After halftime, the Eagles were able to close the game out on a 14-2 run as they took all of the momentum in the 2nd half despite playing on the road and trailing a majority of the game.
Ouachita Christian’s 2nd half run was started with a big TD from Makin Lenard, bringing the Eagles to within 3 and making the score 17-20 with 8 minutes left in the 3rd. The team’s were a little stagnant after this until the Eagles had the ball deep in their own territory and this resulted in a safety, putting them down 22-17.
After that safety though, the Eagles were able to have a mid-fourth quarter game winning drive with a key TD from Luke Vidrine to go up 24-22 with 6:12 left in the 4th. It was all up to their defense to shut the Bulldogs out for the next 6 minutes and keep them scoreless and they were able to do just that as they got stop after stop when needed late in an impressive victory.
“They battled on the road… There’s no place like playing during December… We got 11 seniors that play, only two of them have ever started in the past. We got nine that became starters this year and those seniors provided great leadership and I just lead our team and made most of the opportunity with this. So happy, it’s so grateful, thanks to the Lord for the blessing.”
Coach Fitzhugh when asked how he feels to go the the state championship
After tonight’s win, the Ouachita Christian Eagles advance to the state championship where they play a Vermillion Catholic team that’s coming off of a 33-0 shutout win against Kentwood tonight.
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