It was the tale of two halves for the Iota Bulldogs Friday evening in their District 5-3A showdown against Crowley High.
In the first half, the Bulldogs (5-1, 2-1) gave up 234 yards and a pair of touchdowns to enter the half trailing 16-7.
In the second half, the defense settled in, allowing just 100 additional yards and forcing three turnovers, two in the final six minutes, as the Bulldogs rallied to stun the visiting Gents, 20-16, in front of a packed house at Bulldog Stadium.
The Gents fell to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in league play with the loss.
“Our defense played lights out in the second half,” said Iota coach Josh Andrus. “Crowley out-athleted us pretty much everywhere on the field and our defense came up huge.
“Those guys (Bulldogs) played their tails off through cramps and injuries and they really did a great job.”
With the defense clicking on all cylinders, it was up to the Iota offense to carry them through and, boy, did they ever.
Iota had two scoring drives of over 60 yards in the fourth quarter - both of which were set up by CHS turnovers - to complete the second-half comeback.
Brett Spell set up the first scoring opportunity with an interception and Ethan Zaunbrecher set up the second with a fumble recovery.
On both scoring drives, running back Kaleb Guillory and quarterback Trae Rambin shouldered the bulk of the load.
Guillory did most of the damage with his bruising style of running, picking up 59 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries during the two series.
“That back is phenomenal,” said Crowley coach Jeptha Wall of Guillory, who racked up 231 yards on 34 carries. “You can’t give him an inch or he bounces out of it and finds a way to break through tackles.”
Rambin did his part with an 8-yard touchdown pass, but it was his decision making on each of Iota’s fourth-quarter scoring drives that made the difference.
On their first series of the fourth quarter, Rambin, a junior, rolled out on fourth down and when he couldn’t find a receiver, he scrambled for six yards to pick up a much-needed first down.
Two plays later, Rambin came up big again when he hit Hunter Andrus in the back of the end zone for a touchdown. Luis Doreteo then trimmed the lead to 16-14 with the extra point kick.
The Bulldogs found themselves in another tough spot with just over four minutes remaining when they were faced with a fourth-and-4 situation.
Once again, Rambin couldn’t find an open receiver, so he tucked the ball and raced 12 yards for another fourth -down conversion.
“We tried something to try and catch Crowley off guard, but they had it played perfectly and luckily, Trae was able to get outside and make a play,” said Andrus. “Those two fourth-down conversions were huge.”
Four plays later, Guillory hit paydirt from 15 yards out for the eventual game-winner with 1:21 remaining.
The Gents had one last chance after taking over at their own 18-yard line with just over a minute to go. But following a 7-yard pass to Rapheus Joseph, quarterback Marquis Garrett was picked off by Iota’s Mitchell Lege near midfield to seal the deal.
“He (Lege) came off his guy to make the play and it was a huge play,” said Andrus. “Crowley had been running the out route with the tight end all night and Mitchell read it, stepped underneath it and made the play.”
In the first half, it was the Gents who had things going their way.
They took the opening kickoff and drove 65-yards in eight plays to start things, scoring on a 13-yard run by sophomore Obadiah Butler. Garrett’s two-point conversion pass to Joseph gave Crowley a quick 8-0 advantage with nearly eight minutes remaining in the opening quarter.
The momentum shifted rather quickly, however.
On the Gents’ second possession of the game, they were forced to punt from their own 10-yard line. Iota’s Chaynery Johnson burst through the middle to deflect the kick and Lege snatched it out of the air in stride to score from 15 yards out to get within one at 8-7 following Doreteo’s extra point.
The Gents added the final score of the first half early in the second quarter on a four-play drive that was capped by Butler’s 19-yard touchdown run.
Garrett hooked up with Demarcus Dioron on a 48-yard pitch and catch to set up that score.
The Gents had a handful of other scoring opportunities in the first two quarters, but some misfires to wide open receivers proved costly.
They also had a drive stall out in the redzone when they turned the ball over on downs at the IHS 11-yard line late in the second quarter.
“In the first half, we just mistimed on a couple things,” said Wall. “We had a chance to put some distance between us and put some pressure on them and we just didn’t make the plays.
“Sometimes it’s just not meant to be.”
Overall, Iota gained 302 total yards of offense on the night.
Guillory led the charge by picking up 142 of his 231 rushing yards in the second half.
Rambin, meanwhile, rushed seven times for 15 yards and he also completed four passes for 76 yards and a touchdown.
“Trae did a good job and ran for some big first downs and made some nice throws when he needed to,” said Wall of Rambin, whose longest pass of the night was a 58-yarder to Hunter Andrus in the first half. “And Kaleb is just a great back; he didn’t carry the ball much in the first half but when he did, he gashed us.”
Andrus finished with two catches for 66 yards.
For the Gents, it was Butler who had a breakout night with 23 carries for 142 yards and two touchdowns.
The Gents finished the evening with 334 total yards with 177 coming on the ground.
“Obadiah had a great night,” said Wall. “We gave him a few more touches and he performed well. We got to the edge a couple times with him and he was able to make some big plays.”
Garrett completed nine of 20 pass attempts for 157 yards. Joseph was his main target and hauled in seven passes for 102 yards.
For Iota, the victory was their biggest yet in 2017.
“This was huge,” said Andrus. “I mean, we’ve had some good victories this year, but when you beat a team like Crowley, that’s been good for years and years...
“Where we’ve been and coming back to where we are at.... Some of these guys have been working four years for this: to have a meaningful game in October; not to just play for a win, but to play for something more. And they did tonight; they gave everything they had and I couldn’t be prouder.”