The Riverside Academy Rebels win their first state championship since 2016 and their second overall with a 31-21 win over Ascension Catholic.
Just two years ago, the Rebels were in the same exact game against Southern Lab, but fell short. Now, fast forward two years later and the Rebels were able to overcome that hump led by their senior quarterback Brock Bourgeois and a bunch of offensive weapons.
“This is a special group of kids and they deserve this moment. We were here in 2024 and a lot of these guys were on that team. To win this trophy, it feels special.”
Riverside Academy HC Lee Roussel
Bourgeois finished 7/12 for 142 yards and two touchdowns to only one interception. Winning a state championship was an emotional moment for Bourgeois who recently lost his grandmother.
“The last text that I ever got from her was “Take us to the dome and win.” I know she is proud of me. She wasn’t going to let us lose, I promise you that.”
Riverside Academy QB Brock Bourgeois
Despite giving up a 41 yard rushing touchdown to start the game, Riverside’s defense did a great job of limiting Trevin Simon, who is the state’s all-time single season rushing yards and touchdowns leader to only 150 yards on the ground.
The game started off with some splash plays including a 41 yard touchdown run from Simon and then a 46 yard touchdown pass from Christopher Becknel to Jayden Obiekwe on a trick play to tie the game at 7.
Riverside did add a touchdown run from Obiekwe to take a 14-7 lead at the break, but the Rebels’ offense opened up with two deep strikes from Brock Bourgeois to Christopher Becknel and Kenric “Boogie” Johnson.
Becknel finished with 2 catches for 72 yards and one touchdown while completing a 46 yard touchdown. Johnson finished with four catches for 89 yards and one touchdown and finally, Jayden Obiekwe had 16 catches for 69 yards and one touchdown plus 48 yards receiving and another touchdown.
“The last two games, it has been 30+ carries from Jayden. We knew it was a lot of the talk this week with the two running backs, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t going to lean on Jayden. However, we knew that we could throw the football and we have two special wide receivers out there. We got a quarterback that is experienced and has been there before. We knew if that was what it was going to come down to, we knew that they were going to step up on the biggest stage.”
Riverside Academy HC Lee Roussel
Ascension Catholic would fight their way back after Riverside built a 28-7 lead scoring 14 unanswered points with a one yard touchdown run from Joshua Barber and a Gregory Fernandez touchdown run to pull within a touchdown at 28-21.
However, Riverside ended any opportunity for a comeback with their kicker William Rauch drilling a 40-yard field goal with two minutes left in the game to ice the victory at 31-21.
“It is funny because his range in practice is around the 20 yard line and we don’t really go past that. We were right on the fringe of what we feel comfortable with him kicking. I believe that is the furthest kick that he made all year. He was fired up. I can’t stress the importance of special teams and it showed up in the end for us to win the game.”
Riverside Academy HC Lee Roussel
It was a special season for Ascension Catholic making it to the Superdome with a first-year head coach in Taylor James, but it was this young, talented Rebels team that used its experience two years ago to seal the deal.
Check out these photos from Billy Metcalf!
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