Sometimes, an ugly win is more satisfying than an easy one.
That might be the feeling around the community of the St. Paul’s Wolves coming out of this game, as they managed to win a game that could have easily gone a different direction against JFK. There were plenty of mistakes made by both teams, but the Wolves showed their maturity as a team by making fewer of those mistakes down the stretch, and they were able to eke out a close victory because of it.
The biggest takeaway from this game was the messiness on both sides of the field from a penalty perspective. There is no final count on the number of penalties, but there may have genuinely been 40 or even 50 penalties between the two teams in this game. However, it was significantly worse for JFK than for St. Paul’s, and that largely is what decided the game. We had a sloppy game from St. Paul’s, but we had a historically sloppy game from JFK. This sounds like hyperbole, but JFK alone committed 30 penalties in this game, many of which came at the most inopportune time for the Cougars. It felt like every time they had a big chunk play in this game, the play was getting called back, even including a touchdown. JFK likely feels that they could have had this game if they could have just stopped shooting themselves in the foot.
The other unique thing about this game was about how different the two offenses looked. St. Paul’s runs a flexible offense led by quarterback Brennan Keim, a former Gridiron Football Elite Camp MVP. Unfortunately for the Wolves, Keim had what will likely be his weakest performance in the air this season, with only about 10 passing attempts but 2 INTs. Because of this, they had to lean on their ground game to move the ball, which made their offense slow, plodding, and completely lacking in explosivity. It was consistent on the ground, making few mistakes, but there was no flash. There were some nice plays, including a pair of impressive rushing touchdowns from Troy Willis, as well as a rushing touchdown from Chase Ravain, but the huge chunks did not come often.
Contrast that with the JFK offense, which was all flash and no consistency. Amyne Darensbourg looked like a young left-handed Russell Wilson out there, keeping plays alive with his legs while keeping his eyes down the field and launching moonballs that stayed in the air forever to his receivers with pinpoint accuracy. When the offense was humming, it was completely unstoppable, and Darensbourg was able to find James Evans for a whopping 3 touchdowns throughout this game because of it.
Unfortunately for the Cougars, the offense wasn’t humming very often. On the other side of the coin compared to St. Paul’s, JFK didn’t run the ball much (and weren’t very successful when they did), making them also quite one-dimensional. On top of that, the nature of this passing attack in particular lent itself to a lot of volatility. The ball being in the air for a long time gave more opportunities for JFK to move the ball in chunks, but it also gave more opportunities for St. Paul’s to intercept the pass, as they did once in the first half. Because the quarterback held onto the football for a long time, the offense was also prone to the aforementioned penalties, which killed another promising drive for JFK in the first half. JFK led 16-7 at halftime, but considering the yardage differential was probably massive and that the Cougars led in turnover differential 2-1, the gap should have been much wider.
The second half began looking like more of the same, until one play changed the entire complexion of the game. JFK got the ball to start the half and began driving close to the redzone yet again. However, a bobbled pass touched 4 different players and landed in the hands of St. Paul’s Carter Cambre, who had a huge return, giving the Wolves a short field for the first time all game.
This was absolutely game changing. St. Paul’s took the momentum from this play and held onto it throughout the entire 3rd quarter. They capitalized on the short field with a touchdown to make it a 2 point game, and then they got a brutal 3 and out deep in JFK territory (because of penalties) and turned it into yet another short field. They scored another touchdown, got the 2pt conversion, and in the blink of an eye they hit a 15-0 run and were up 22-16 heading into the 4th quarter.
The 4th quarter was more back and forth, staying an exciting one-score game for the most part. St. Paul’s gets the ball up by 6 at the beginning of the 4th quarter, and they complete their most impressive drive of the game when it matters most. 7 minutes of slow, move the chains on the ground football, capped off by one of the most stunning plays I’ve ever seen at the high school level.
On 3rd and 7 at the JFK 41, Brennan Keim’s pass falls incomplete with 4:26 left to go in the game. A level of panic had set into the home crowd. The entire drive had a panicked feel to it, with every St. Paul’s fan watching the clock tick down, constantly checking to see how much more time they needed to get through to survive this game. JFK’s offense hadn’t found its rhythm in the 2nd half, but everyone in that stadium knew that it wouldn’t matter. If you gave them just more chance, Darensbourg and company would make them pay. When that pass fell incomplete and the clock suddenly stopped, the tension in the stadium could be cut with a knife.
St. Paul’s was left seemingly with two terrible choices. Either they trot their un-explosive offense out to try to get 7 yards in one play, an idea that felt too risky to attempt in that moment, or they punt and try to pin JFK deep, which came with its own risks and limited reward (the snap of St. Paul’s first punt attempt of the day sailed over the punter’s head and ended in a safety, which is what gave this game its numerical footing).
Instead, St. Paul’s does the unthinkable – they trot out kicker Drew Talley to attempt a 58-yard field goal to put the game out of reach. Even an NFL team would think twice before trying something like this. A high school team trying this is completely unheard of. We watched the opposing kicker miss a 48 yarder short earlier in the game, and this is an entire 10 yards farther than that. And yet, somehow, Talley does it. He knocks the 58 yarder through, and it all but ices the game for the Wolves.
This incredible kick essentially ended the game. JFK did score again to make it 25-22, and they made a good attempt at an onside kick, but St. Paul’s ended the scrum with the ball and was able to kneel it out to clinch a satisfying but messy victory. This is a big one for the Wolves as they advance to 3-1 on the season and finish non-district play next week with a huge game @ University High. It’s a tough loss for JFK, but it’s their first of the year. They will play Joh Ehret next week. For more coverage of Louisiana High School Football, make sure to stick around at https://gridironfootballusa.com/
