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ST. JAMES FOOTBALL 2009 |
(Week-1) VS West St. John |
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Wildcats suffer disappointing loss to Rams 14-16
By
Kenny Hymel www.stjameswildcats.com September 4,
2009 ST. JAMES, LA -- Wildcat Kenneth Armant
got things off to a great start for St. James when he took the opening
kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown. Then
St. James failed to make the West St. John Rams pay by coming up with 0
points after 2 West St. John turnovers and great field position. The Wildcats struggled and then let the
Rams stick around long enough to become more confident. Once the momentum shifted, the Rams were
good enough to know what to do with it. Coming into tonight's season opener at St. James, the
Wildcats were looking to feed off the momentum created by the final drive in
last week's Jamboree game. However,
lousy mistakes, sloppy execution, and major missed opportunities would be the
story tonight for St. James. After Armant's return and a Jaleel Steib extra point, St.
James took a quick 7-0 lead. Wildcat
linebacker Jessie Chriss came up with an
interception to set up the Wildcats in great field position around the
30-yard line. The Wildcats went 4-and-out,
running out of downs. St. James would again quickly retain possession of the
football when Christian Verret picked up a
fumble. Again, the Wildcats started
inside the Ram 30 and again, another 4-and-out. Not capitalizing on these two opportunities
would later prove significant. St. James finally picked up a first down late in the
second quarter when quarterback Antonie Landry hit
John Shepard on a nice pass down inside the
10. A few plays later, Christian Verret took it in on a 4-yard run. Steib's extra
point was good to put St. James up 14-0 with 3:20 left in the first half. The Rams then came back down the field and scored on a
19-yard pass on fourth down. Not
having a field goal kicker, the Rams elected to go for 2 and would successfully
convert it to make the score 14-6 with 1:33 left in the first half. St. James put a little drive together before halftime
but could not finish it. To open the second half, St.
James forced West St. John to a 3-and-out but would give the Rams the ball
back with a roughing-the-punter penalty. The
Wildcats achieved another stop but would again give the ball back to the
Rams, this time with a fumble on the punt return. The Rams then took advantage. Ram quarterback Dray Joseph scored untouched on a 6-yard
run. Again, the Rams went for 2 and
again, the Rams successfully converted.
This put the Rams up 16-14 with 5:14 left in the third. The offensive struggles for St. James continued. In the fourth quarter, a superb 68-yard
punt by Wildcat John Shepard pined
the Rams back deep. Then the Wildcat
defense made their stop forcing a punt. After a bad West St. John punt, St. James again enjoyed
excellent field position. Again, the
Wildcats could not get anything going and ran out of downs. West St. John eventually got their hands back on the
football and ate up a large chunk of game clock. It was not until 1 minute left in the game
when St. James got the ball back. The
Wildcats got the ball back around their own 15-yard line but the Rams were
able to hold and win the game 16-14. For the second year in a row, the Wildcats will open up
the season with a 0-1 record. Also similar
to last year, the upcoming schedule will be brutal. The Wildcats will travel to Baton Rouge
next Friday night to take on the 2nd-ranked team in Class-3A, the Redemptorist Wolves.
While beating Redemptorist will be very
difficult, a win next week would make everyone forget about tonight's game. NOTABLES Team discipline and regaining confidence will be the key
to how the Wildcats respond to this one.
On paper, this loss is no different from last season's loss to Higgins
where the opponent simply converted 2-point conversions to provide the scoring
edge. John Shepard's 68-yard punt
was perhaps the longest Wildcat punt since 1998 when Kenny Levet had one go 70-plus yards. To end on a positive note, St. James enjoyed a successful week with the sub-varsity teams by winning 2 out of 3. The Freshman team beat Thibodaux 14-8 on Tuesday, but the Junior Varsity lost a close one to Thibodaux 16-18 immediately after. The Junior High team then opened their season with a win on Thursday by defeating Garyville 48-16. |
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