Delcambre holds off Jeanerette in OT

Published 2:30 pm Saturday, October 27, 2018

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JEANERETTE — A 2-point conversion run in overtime by Delcambre wingback Parker Nunez proved to be the winning margin in the Panthers’ 30-28 victory at Jeanerette Friday.

Delcambre’s offense took the field first in OT and the Panthers, who rarely throw the football, appeared to be in trouble on fourth and five, but quarterback Colt Dooley found sophomore tight end Hayden Frederick for a touchdown, which set up Nunez’s sweep around the left-hand side.

“I rolled out and saw my tight end dragging across the end zone wide open and if I hit him, we had a chance to win,” Dooley said.

“Actually our fullback out of the flat was our first read. He was covered and I looked in the back of the end zone and saw our tight end wide open.”

Jeanerette responded with a 10-yard touchdown by running back Elton Alexander Jr. on first down, but Delcambre’s defense stiffened and stopped JSH’s 2-point conversion bid, a run between the tackles, just short of the goal-line.

“It’s a huge win,” DHS head coach Marc Broussard said. “We were sitting at 32 (in the LHSAA power rankings) and they were sitting at 33. It’s a big win for us tonight. Our kids fought hard.

“We had to work to score in overtime and they scored on the first play, but we stopped them on the 2-point conversion. It was a crazy game.”

Delcambre rushed the ball 68 times during regulation with only one pass, but Broussard indicated that there was no doubt about putting the ball in the air on fourth down in overtime.

“We knew we had to throw it,” he said. “We called a time-out. We instructed (Dooley) not to take a sack, to stay calm and throw it in the end zone.”

The Panthers surprised Jeanerette (2-7, 1-5) by going with a no-huddle offense from the first snap.

“The is the first time we went no-huddle this year,” Broussard said. “We thought we could keep an up-tempo pace and wear them down.”

Nunez gained 114 yards on 17 rushes with two touchdowns and three two-point conversions for DHS (3-6, 1-4). Sophomore fullback Noah Broussard added 112 yards on 22 carries and wingback Tirney Dejean chipped in 73 yards on 10 attempts.

“We had a decent trap game with our buck sweep working, even though they had 10 in the box,” Broussard said. “We popped a couple of traps.”

Delcambre received the opening kickoff and drove 70 yards in six plays for the only points of the first half, with Nunez darting in from seven yards out for a 6-0 DHS lead.

“Our offensive line was making good blocks,” Nunez said. “They made a big push for us. I give my credit to them and our other wingback (Dejean), who was working hard to block for me.”

Jeanerette drove to the DHS 1-yard line on its second possession, but the officials ruled that Shonathon Sparrow lost control of the ball as he crossed the goal line and the Panthers were awarded possession due to a touchback.

The Panthers went up 14-0 midway through the third quarter on a four-yard burst by Broussard and a 2-point conversion by Nunez.

“My offensive line was helping me out and doing everything for me,” said Broussard, who gained most of his yardage throughout the game after initial contact.

“I just kept pushing and going forward with my feet. It feels amazing. It was a complete team effort.”

Jeanerette rallied with two touchdown passes by Noah Rollins and a scoring run by Alexander to send it to overtime.

The Tigers got on the board on a five-yard touchdown throw by Rollins to Jared Drexler with 1:22 remaining in the third quarter.

After a three-yard TD run and a 2-point conversion by Nunez put DHS on top 22-14 with 2:22 remaining in the game, Jeanerette took over at its own 34-yard line.

On first down, Rollins completed a 50-yard pass to Jaquandrick Collins.

Following an incompletion and three runs by Sparrow, Rollins found tight end Toddrick Paul for a touchdown on third down from the DHS 4-yard line.

Alexander then charged up the middle to tie the game at 22-22 with 31 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.