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St. James 16
John Curtis 14
Memory of a Lifetime
October 26, 2007
By Kenny Hymel
Published on August 1, 2009 Superior… Invisible… Excellent… Outstanding…
Perfect… Those are just a few of many
words that have been used to describe the program known as John Curtis
football. On national television, the Patriots of John Curtis
showed the entire country just how dangerously serious they are when they
took down the number-one high school football team in the nation in Hoover,
Alabama just a year earlier in 2006. While our St. James Wildcats had given John Curtis a run
in the previous years, the strength of Curtis football ultimately prevailed
in the end. The closest call, a 7-6 lead late into the third quarter
in 2006, wasn't quite enough as "Curtis Football" came through for
a 19-7 victory. A year later, on a chilly October night in 2007 at Muss
Burtolino Stadium in Kenner, Louisiana, the story took a different turn. OCTOBER 26, 2007 "I think we got a shot tomorrow night," I told
a fellow Wildcat fan the night before at a junior high game. "But we surely can't turnover the ball
even just once. Hitting on all
cylinders is a MUST." One thing that definitely separates St. James from other
schools who play John Curtis is the fact that our guys take the field
believing that they're going to win.
In the 7 or so years I've spent covering St. James football, I've
never seen the Wildcats afraid of anyone.
This night was no different. While most teams play Curtis not expecting even a
glitter of hope, St. James went out there that night and stepped off the bus
with confidence. It would also be the District Championship game as both
teams entered with undefeated records in district play for this Week-9
battle. The story of the game can be divided into 4 segments:
St. James striking first, Curtis answering back, a stalemate, and then St.
James steals the momentum late to win the football game. ST. JAMES STRIKES
FIRST Both teams traded three-and-outs on their first
drives. This obviously favored St.
James because they were the underdogs.
The last thing favorite Curtis wanted was to make underdog St. James
"know" they can play with them.
The Wildcats changed from "believing" to "knowing"
just by preventing Curtis from even picking up a first down in the first two
drives of the game. Then the Wildcat defense forced their first turnover of
the night. Fueled by the Casey Narcisse recovery of a Curtis
fumble, the Wildcats landed the first punch of the night -- and it was a
powerful strike. On the first play after the fumble recovery, Wildcat
quarterback Marcus Dumas hit Justin Williams on a deep ball getting the
Wildcats down to the 9-yard line. On
the next play, fullback Kenny Zenon danced and dashed his way untouched right
up the gut and into the end zone for the touchdown. Juarelle Narcisse kicked the extra point to
put St. James up 7-0. On the ensuing kickoff, the Wildcats stripped the
football away from the Curtis' kick returned and covered it up for another
fumble recovery . This time, all the
Wildcats could get was a field goal.
This led to a 10-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. St. James sent a message loud and clear that we came
here to play. CURTIS ANSWERS
BACK The margin of error when playing John Curtis is almost
zero and that's even with a 10-0 lead.
Curtis landed the next punch and this one was even stronger than the
Wildcat's opening scoring attack. Before you could blink your eyes, Curtis scored on a
surprising pass play and then St. James made a mistake on special teams, and
ended up having to start from the 1-yard line. After a short Wildcat punt and great return
by Curtis, the Patriots had a 14-10 lead just a few plays later. STALEMATE It wasn't so much a "stalemate" as it was St.
James blowing scoring opportunities. Midway through the second quarter, St. James began
moving the ball very well on offense, and the St. James defense tightened up
again against the Curtis Veer offense.
Closing out the first half, St. James marched on a
ball-controlled drive taking it down inside the 5-yard line before a costly
fumble prevented St. James from taking the lead at the half. Much was the same in the third quarter. St. James again blew a scoring opportunity
by means of a fumble. However, the St. James defense continued to stop Curtis
-- but the Wildcats were getting tired. At the end of the third-quarter, the score remained
14-10 in favor of Curtis. ST. JAMES STEALS
MOMENTUM AND WINS Entering the fourth quarter, Curtis began playing
"Curtis Football" by physically wearing away the Wildcat defense
unfront. It was pure Curtis 101; 3 to
4 yards per play and moving the chains, and waiting for the big play. St. James had every reason to fold at that point. The Wildcats knew that they blew two drives
that should have resulted in touchdowns.
Everyone knows you simply CANNOT give away any chances against John
Curtis. When you're trailing one of
the top teams in the nation only 14-10 and you gave away two huge
opportunities, it can only be described as very disappointing. As former New Orleans Saints coach Jim Mora once said,
"Coulda, shoulda, woulda, doesn't mean a damn thing." But the St. James defense didn't think that way -- they
still believed that St. James was going to win the football game and that
there weren't going to be any "coulda, shoulda, wouldas" this time. The Wildcat defense was getting tired and pushed around,
but then they did have one last burst of adrenaline that Curtis was not
prepared for. Late in the fourth quarter and into Wildcat territory,
Curtis could only watch as the St. James defense started to catch a little
"second wind." Eventually,
the Patriots found themselves in a fourth-down-and-four at the Wildcat
30-yard line. Curtis elected to go for it and the play looked to be a
screen to counter any blitz by St. James.
Curtis seemed right, St. James did blitz, but the Curtis quarterback
and running back didn't seem to expect St. James in the backfield so
quickly. The running back, who may
have been the primary receiver if it was a screen, was now caught up in pass
protection and the Wildcats were coming fast.
Desperate to avoid a quickly approaching sack, the Curtis quarterback
simply sailed the ball right into the waiting hands of St. James Wildcat
Demel Dumas. Dumas had lots of running room in front of him. Dumas dashed down the sideline and it
wasn't until the Curtis 15-yard like that he would be pushed out-of-bounds. From that point on, it would be all St. James. Wildcat Luther Ambrose provided the go-ahead touchdown
when he took a pitch and bolted his way to the pylon with his 4.28
laser-clocked speed. The extra point
was no good resulting in a 16-14 score, but the Wildcats were now hitting on
all cylinders. When Curtis returned on offense, their attempt at a
game-winning drive in the closing minutes was hampered by a St. James defense
who was now on fire. The Wildcats were
hitting the quarterback, chasing the running backs down in the back field,
and causing all sorts of havoc. St. James forced Curtis to one last shot - another
fourth down play. St. James didn't
bring as aggressive of a blitz this time, but not one Curtis player blocked
Wildcat linebacker Jarred Favorite as Favorite was immediately in the
quarterback's face to force a pass into the ground. St. James took over on downs and ran out the clock for a
16-14 victory. THE CELEBRATION Perhaps even bigger than beating John Curtis was the
celebration that followed. Never
before have I ever seen so many Wildcat fans just united with as much joy and
happiness as I seen that night. It didn't matter if someone didn't like someone else, it
didn't matter of what age, race, sex, or religion you were, every Wildcat fan
was united as one solid community on that field that night. I highly doubt any St. James fan who was there that
night will not think back to that night each time they pass next to Muss
Bertolino in Kenner for the rest of their lives. Yes, it was not a state championship. Yes, it was just a regular season
game. Yes, John Curtis did defeat St.
James in a rematch later in the year for the state championship. Yes, St. James may have bigger days
ahead. However, regardless of the way
things played and will play out, the memory of the celebration from that
night is one that will live on forever.
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