For the second week in a row, the Crowley Gents spotted a playoff opponent a two-touchdown lead.
And for the second week in a row, the Gents rallied for an improbable upset victory.
It all unfolded - again- Friday night at Gardiner Memorial Stadium when the No. 18-seeded Gents fell behind No. 2 seed Iowa 15-0 before rallying for four unanswered touchdowns in the final two frames to stun the Yellow Jackets, 24-15.
“I don’t know why we keep giving everybody more points and try to come back from behind. It’s not fun at all,” Crowley High coach Jeptha Wall joked afterward.
His Gents also fell behind 12-0 in the first quarter a week earlier during their opening-round victory over Albany.
“But our guys are resilient,” said Wall. “They were kind of beat up and broken going into half, but we made some adjustments and were able to get it going.”
The Gents (8-4) now move on to the quarterfinal round next Friday when they will travel to Jennings to take on the No. 10-seeded Bulldogs.
Jennings defeated No. 7 Church Point, 28-7, in their regional contest Friday.
Wall said it wasn’t one particular thing he could point to for the Gents’ resurgence.
His speech to his team at the half wasn’t anything special and it surely wasn’t a ‘win one for the Gipper’ speech, he said.
But then again, that speech, along with some critical adjustments, seemed to be just what the struggling Gents needed.
“We just told the guys to calm down,” said Wall, who watched penalties cripple the Gents in the first half. “We’ve been here before, so we just went over some things that we needed to fix and we told them to settle down and move forward.
“You can tell, we don’t die.”
After missing a chance to get on the board near the end of the first half, the Gents finally broke the ice to start the third quarter with an 80-yard scoring drive that was capped by Marquis Garrett’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Desmond Harmon.
The drive was sparked by a pair of long passes to junior tight end Rapheus Joseph, who had four receptions for 63 yards.
“Rapheus is a big playmaker for us and we were able to get him some touches right there,” said Wall. “He missed one early in the game, but he gave us a spark there in the second half.”
The Gents were able to chip away even further later in the quarter when they took over at their own 20-yard line with 3:15 left on the clock.
Garrett hooked up with Chris Lewis for a big gain and just as he was about to meet up with Iowa defensive back Darius Daniels, Lewis stopped on a dime, shook the McNeese State commit and raced 30 more yards for an 80-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 15-12.
“That was a big play by Chris,” said Wall. “That’s just the speed that he has and the kid can do some special things when we get him in space.”
Possibly the biggest play of the game occurred early in the fourth quarter when the Yellow Jackets were driving deep into CHS territory.
Daniels, who doubles at running back, broke off two big runs, but on his third carry, the bruising back attempted to push the pile and was stripped by Crowley’s Donald Francis, who returned the ball 26 yards to the IHS 42-yard line.
Six plays later, sophomore running back Obadiah Butler hit paydirt from nine yards out to give the Gents their first lead of the game at 18-15 with just under eight minutes remaining in the contest.
“Donald was a manchild out there tonight,” said Wall of Francis, who also had five carries for 20 yards. “I don’t know exactly who stripped the ball, but he squirted out with it and gave us a big return.
“That play and Chris Lewis’ touchdown catch were probably more key than anything else in the game.”
Those two plays may have been the biggest, but the Gents had a few more memorable moments after that as well.
Two of them were turned in by senior defensive back Josh Burnett.
After the Gents turned the ball over on downs at their own 46-yard line, Burnett undercut a receiver for an interception that gave the Gents the ball back at their own 38.
From there it took just one handoff to Keith Wilson, who broke free and raced down the sideline for a 62-yard touchdown to give the Gents a 24-15 advantage with just over a minute to play.
Iowa still had one last chance to get back in the game, but Burnett ended that real quick when he logged his second interception of the night near the goal line with 1:17 remaining.
From there, the Gents got into victory formation and ran the clock out.
“That’s not bad for a kid that hasn’t played football since junior high. He decided to come out his senior year and he is the best corner that we have,” said Wall of Burnett, who now has nine interceptions on the year. “He probably leads the state in interceptions and he’s got a great score on the ACT; some of these smaller schools (colleges) might want to wake up. He’s that special.”
Burnett had the difficult task of covering All-State receiver Cole Fleming, who hauled in three passes for 104 yards and a touchdown.
That touchdown reception occurred in the second quarter when Burnett lost his footing and Fleming was able to race his way 78 yards for a score.
“Burnett slipped on a little hitch and couldn’t get back up in time on that touchdown in the first half, but he played the guy good in the second half,” said Wall.
As a unit, the Gents’ defense really turned up the heat in the second half, allowing just 77 total yards and five first downs over the final two frames.
Offensively, it was the same story.
After mustering just 45 total yards and three first downs in a scoreless first half, the Gents tallied 272 yards and moved the chains nine times after the break.
“You know, that shows you that our offensive coaches, they’ve got an idea of what’s going on,” said Wall. “Coach (Kaine) Guidry and his guys drew up a few little wrinkles and we kind of adjusted some things scheme-wise and we took off.”
Wilson carried the load on the ground and picked up 115 of the Gents’ 157 rushing yards on 17 carries.
Butler added 42 yards and a touchdown on nine totes.
Garrett completed 10 of 18 pass attempts for 161 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Lewis had two receptions for 87 yards and a touchdown; Joseph had four for 63 yards and Jai’Rece Lewis had one for 12. Butler and Harmon each added one catch for two yards each and Francis had a reception for negative yards.
Iowa finished the night with 65 yards on the ground. Jedd Self had 19 carries for 44 yards and Daniels picked up 33 yards on 11 carries.
Huntsberry completed eight of 22 pass attempts for 155 yards and two touchdowns to go along with two interceptions.
Fleming was the leading receiver with three catches for 104 yards and Marka’il Nixon hauled in four passes for 39 yards, including one for a 22-yard touchdown.
Iowa finished its 2017 campaign at 10-1.