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ST. JAMES FOOTBALL 2009 |
(Week-2) at Redemptorist |
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St. James can't find rhythm in 14-35 loss at Redemptorist
By
Kenny Hymel www.stjameswildcats.com September
11, 2009 BATON ROUGE, LA -- "Fundamental mistakes" as
Coach Gaille says it, came in too large of a number
for St. James on this drizzly night in Baton Rouge. While many agree that this loss wasn't as disappointing as last week's loss, St. James still
managed to doom themselves with simple, yet costly, errors against the
state's second ranked team in Class-3A. On the other side of the field, the second ranked Redemptorist Wolves made very little, if any,
mistakes. Along with that, the Wolves
were talented enough to produces the game's final score. The Wildcats made some plays and at times even showed signs
of being a "St. James" football team, but the errors caused inconsistency,
which prevented St. James from finding any kind of rhythm. One could never tell by the score, but St. James enjoyed
a solid running game from fullback Jaleel Steib who finished around, or over, the 100-yard
mark. It was Jaleel Steib's hard running that got St. James moving the ball
after the defense made a nice stop on Redemporist's
first drive of the game. The Wildcat drive
then ended by a turnover and Redemporist responded
with a score by means of a 20-yard pass play.
The extra point hit the goal post making the score 6-0 at the 3:50
mark in the first quarter. Redemptorist's next score would also come
after a Wildcat miscue. This time, Redemptorist found the end zone with a 70-yard punt
return for a touchdown. Two Wildcats
hit the punt returner immediately after fielding the ball,
however, the tackles were never made.
The Wolves went for 2 and made it to make the score 14-0 with 9:47
left in the half. St. James then showed signs of light when Roman Broden returned the ensuing kickoff to the 45-yard
line. On the next play, Jaleel Steib found a hole in
the middle and hit it for a 55-yard scoring run. Steib provided
his own extra point to cut the Wolf lead down to 14-7 with 9:26 left in the
half. St. James then blew a huge opportunity to steal the
momentum when the Wildcats forced the Wolves to a 3rd-and-long deep inside
their territory. Three Wildcats missed
tackles in the backfield and the Redemptorist
quarterback sailed down the field for about a 40-yard gain. The Wolves would eventually score on a
1-yard run to make the score 21-7 with 5:42 in the half. On the first drive of the second half, the Wildcats
again had a chance to swing a little momentum in their direction when the
Wolves were down to a 4th-and-4. This
time, Redemptorist hit a big pass play to get the
ball inside the 10. The Wolves would
score on a quarterback sneak. The
extra point made it 28-7 with 6:23 left in the third. Redemptoirst scored another time in the fourth
quarter and again on a quarterback run. St. James got another score in late when Jaleel Steib took in a 1-yard
run. His extra point made it 35-14
with 1:32 left in the game. St. James actually got the ball back but couldn't get one extra score to take home. The Wildcats are now 0-2 and will be facing another good
team next week when they take on the Wildcats of East St. John. It is only obvious to say that maintaining confidence will be very important for St. James. It is no excuse, but the talent that the Wildcats have faced has been top quality. This is a unique situation for this Wildcat team and finding their heart may be all that is needed. Many wonder what the results could be if everyone on the team starts playing "St. James" football and not just 4 or 5 guys -- even against these quality teams. NOTABLES Jaleel Steib
scored all 14 points of the Wildcats' points -- two touchdowns and two extra
points. Coach Gaille said to his team after the game: "You're not playing 'St. James' football yet but you will get there. If there is one positive, it's that we have a whole lot of room to get better because you are a better football team than you have shown. Fundamental execution is what we're lacking." |
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