The LHSAA Division II State Championship Game was expected to be a track meet and indeed, it was.
Down 48-38 with less than a minute left to play, the St. Thomas More Cougars (13-1) scored a touchdown, recovered an onside kick, and scored another touchdown in a 10 second period to take a shocking 52-48 lead with 49 seconds left to play.
In a game that features two of the best offenses in the state, it was the Cougars’ defense that made the game sealing play when St. Thomas More’s best defender in senior Nicholas Beckwith had the game winning interception to clinch the LHSAA Division II State Championship.
As entertaining and crazy as the final minute was, the prior 47 minutes was just as good.
A matchup featuring two former Gridiron Football Louisiana Player of the Week winners in LCA’s Ju’Juan Johnson and St. Thomas More’s Sam Altmann turned into a gunslinger battle between two of the state’s best underclassmen signal callers.
LCA quarterback Ju’Juan Johnson, who is coming off a state record nine touchdown performance in the semifinals against Teurlings Catholic, had just as eye opening of a performance. The dual threat quarterback completed 21 of 34 passes for 341 yards and three touchdowns while carrying the ball 33 times for 245 yards and two more touchdowns to account for 586 total yards and five total touchdowns.
St. Thomas More’s Sam Altmann really turned it up in the second half completing 21 of 38 passes for 352 yards and six touchdowns including the two touchdowns in the last minute to overcome a ten-point deficit with strikes to Christian McNees from 44 yards and Connor Stelly for the game winning score from 54 yards out.
Both teams accounted for 1,355 total yards and 61 first downs. The third quarter was a scoring monsoon with 41 points being scored in the quarter alone.
The quarterbacks were not the only stars in this game that made plays.
On the winning side, Christian McNees, Connor Stelly, and Tanner Hornback all had two touchdowns a piece with McNees leading the way with eight grabs for 227 yards. Stelly had six grabs for 145 yards. The Cougars also had success on the ground early on with Hutch Swilley rushing for 167 yards and a 60 yard touchdown run.
For LCA, running back Dudley Jackson had 157 yards rushing and two touchdowns on the ground while also having a third touchdown through the air from 16 yards out. Trae Grogan led the way in receiving with five catches for 102 yards and a touchdown to put the Knights on the scoreboard early. Alonzo Ryes also had a 100-yard performance with four grabs for 116 yards and a touchdown.
The St. Thomas More Cougars started off early jumping out to a 10-0 lead, but it was the LCA Knights that first clawed its way back into the football game when Johnson hit Dudley Jackson for a 16-yard touchdown right before the end of the first half to pull within three points at 17-14.
LCA would jump out to a 13-0 run in the second half with a touchdown run by Jackson followed by a 36-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Ryes to give the Knights its first big lead of the game at 27-17.
St. Thomas More would answer with a 60-yard touchdown run by Swilley to pull within three at 27-24, but LCA kept their foot on the gas pedal throughout the rest of the third quarter with a 57-yard touchdown run by Jackson to give the Knights its ten-point lead back at 34-24.
Both offenses continued to trade scores entering the fourth quarter with LCA holding a 41-31 lead entering the final quarter of play. Johnson had a one-yard touchdown to what looked like a game ending touchdown with 1:45 left to play to put the Knights on top at 48-38, but somebody forgot to tell St. Thomas More that and as you know, the rest is history.
The second winningest head football coach in Louisiana high school football history Jim Hightower just added another trophy to the mantle winning his fourth state championship at STM in seven years.
The LCA Knights (10-4), under head coach Trev Faulk, could not close the deal and came up short of getting revenge on their district rivals, which beat LCA for the district championship 41-34 earlier this season.
The Knights are on an incredible run under the former LSU All-American making the state championship game for the sixth year in a row, but for the second year in a row, the Knights came up one game short and a minute short of hoisting another state championship trophy.
St. Thomas More head coach Jim Hightower has been involved in a lot of games, but this one may end up being the wildest one he has ever coached in.
“To be completely honest, I’ve been involved with over 500 games. That one was a wild game. Again, I think credit to the football in our area, Lafayette and all of Louisiana. We have four really competitive teams in our district who made it to the semi-finals and the fact that it ended up being a 4-4A matchup in the Superdome, I think was fitting. We’re going to have to go work on defense I guess in Lafayette, but we know how to play some offense.”
St. Thomas More Head Coach Jim Hightower
The game was indoors, but certainly there were a lot of fireworks inside the Superdome.
Check out some of the photos taken by Jason Saucier! We will release the magazine with all the game photos throughout the weekend for the Prep Classic. If you wish the receive the magazine for free through email, fill out the contact sheet form at the bottom of the article.
Pregame Poll:
Road To The Dome Preview:
Key Video Highlights Provided By Tyler Barros:
1st Quarter:
2nd Quarter:
3rd Quarter:
Stay tuned on Monday. We will release the magazine with all the game photos throughout the weekend for the Prep Classic. If you wish the receive the magazine for free through email, fill out the contact sheet form below!
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