The Northwest Raiders were the preseason favorites to win District 5-3A both by the coaches and the media prior to the 2017 prep football season.
Friday, the Crowley Gents found out why.
The No. 10-ranked Raiders invaded Gardiner Memorial Stadium and put a damper on the Gents’ Homecoming festivities with a 25-22 victory thanks mainly to quarterback Montaze Sam and running back Kelvin Shorter.
Sam rushed 26 times for 85 yards and completed six passes for 70 yards and two touchdowns. Shorter picked up 119 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.
“We knew they were athletic as heck and they got after it,” said CHS coach Jepth Wall, whose team fell to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in district play with the loss. “Sam is just methodical and he just came barrelling through there. It says he’s 170 (pounds) on the roster, but he’s more like 200 or so.”
Defensively, the Raiders limited the Gents to just six points and 109 total yards off offense in the first half to take a 12-6 advantage into the half.
“Northwest gave us a good front and they played a lot of man,” said Wall of the Raiders’ defense. “They kind of took away a few things and it took us a while to adjust and get back on our feet.”
Northwest scored on the opening series of the game despite having a 75-yard kickoff return nullified due by a holding penalty.
The Raiders took the penalty in stride and mounted a seven-play, 55-yard drive that was capped by a 30-yard touchdown pass from Sam to Mekhi Hammond. Crowley’s Perry Myles blocked the extra point attempt to keep the score at 6-0 with 7:44 remaining in the opening frame.
The Gents answered later in the quarter when Donald Francis scored on a 4-yard run to knot the score at 6-6 after a failed two-point conversion.
The big play for the Gents during the scoring drive was a 40-yard pass on third down from Paul Dugar to Rapheus Joseph, who caught the ball at the NW 25 and spun away from a would-be tackler to get down to the 8-yard line.
“Rapheus bailed us out a couple of times tonight,” said Wall of Joseph, who finished the night with five receptions for 190 yards and a touchdown. “He made some unbelievable catches that really helped us to stay in the game.”
The Raiders answered back just before the half with under a minute to play when Sam took the snap from the shotgun, darted to the line and then threw a Tim Tebow jump pass to a wide open Keshawn Jackson for a 6-yard touchdown.
The play had the Gents’ sideline up in arms.
“They scored on a end over, illegal tight end pass. They (referees) just missed it,” said Wall. “They said there was only 10 and I said yes there was 10, but No. 1 was on the line and the tight end was covered up. They didn’t have an answer.”
The Gents also hurt themselves in the first half with an handful of untimely penalties and a missed scoring opportunity on another drive.
On fourth down and inches, Dugar took a snap on a keeper and slipped through the pile for an apparent touchdown. As he began to pull away from the defense, however, his hamstring tightened up and he went down at the Northwest 36-yard line. Three plays later, the Gents were forced to punt.
“Pauly breaks loose on a quarterback sneak and he tightens up,” said Wall. “I was turning around signaling for the extra point and he’s down.”
Dugar rushed three times for 17 yards and completed two passes for 44 yards before sitting out the second half with hamstring issues.
Marquise Garrett took over for Dugar in the second half and guided the Gents to a pair of scores.
Garrett hit Joseph on a 40-yard scoring strike midway through the third quarter and then connected with Wyatt Stelly on a two-point conversion pass to give the Gents a 14-12 lead with 6:50 remaining in the frame.
The Raiders once again had an answer.
After taking over at the Crowley 47-yard line, Shorter broke free for a 36-yard run and two plays later, Jackson bolted in from five yards out to give the Raiders an 18-14 lead.
Shorter scored again - on a 3-yard run - with just over six minutes remaining in the game to push the lead to 25-14.
The Gents got the ball back with just under two minutes remaining at the NW 14-yard line following a failed fourth down conversion and Garrett hit Demarcus Dioron on the first play for a quick scoring strike. Donald Francis powered in for the two-point conversion to trim the lead to 25-22 with 1:51 remaining.
Garrett finished the night with 28 rushing yards and he completed five passes for 164 yards.
“Marquis played well,” said Wall. “He had a lot of pressure in his face and that’s a lot of pressure stepping back into.”
The Gents’ attempt at an onside kick failed when the referee ruled the ball didn’t go 10 yards on the kickoff, yet the ball wad spotted at midfield.
The Gents got the ball back with 20 seconds remaining at their own 20 and after a run for a loss, Garrett evaded defenders and ran for a 28-yard gain before being pushed out of bounds with no time remaining.
Two flags were thrown for a late hit on the play, but after a nearly five-minute huddle by the officials, the game was called.
“There was a flag for a late hit out of bounds, but they told me the game was over so there was no penalty. I don’t know,” said Wall. “We should have had one untimed down.”
The loss was a tough pill to swallow, but Wall was proud of the fight in the Gents, who trailed by 11 with six minutes remaining.
“You know, there’s no quit in this team,” said Wall. “It’s never over with these cats. We played to the final whistle and that’s all that I can ask.
“We just have to prepare ourselves for the unthinkable and leave no doubt in anybody that steps on the field with us. No matter what, we have to be capable of handling ourselves and we didn’t do that too well early in the game with little touchy stupid penalties.”