St. James 14 St. Charles 17
Wildcats’ Season Ends
in Heartbreaker to Comets 14-17
By Kenny HymelDecember
1, 2006
LA PLACE, La – 160 Louisiana high schools make it to the playoffs, but only 5 will end their season with a victory. Playoffs are often cruel, but that’s just part of football – at least high school and pro.
The St. James Wildcats took on the St. Charles Comets in this state semi-final playoff game which was a rematch from the last game of the season in which St. James won 17-9. Similar to the previous hook-up, this game took place at St. Charles. Different though, that the Comets defeated the Wildcats this time around by a score of 17-14.
Despite the loss, there is no doubt that 2006 produced many great memories and will be looked back on as a very successful season for the St. James Wildcats.
The game got underway with an impressive “textbook” drive for St. James. The Wildcats started from their own 20-yard line and marched on an 80-yard drive capping it off with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Antonio Phillips to Craig Duronslet. The extra point was no good and St. James led 6-0 with 8:10 left in the first quarter.
St. Charles would give St. James defense fits in the first half and they matched the Wildcat score with one of their own as the Comets scored on a 1-yard run. With the extra point, St. Charles took a 7-6 lead with 42 seconds left in the first quarter.
St. Charles forced St. James to punt and came away with a key big play. The Comet running back sprinted right and found open field for a 40-yard scoring run. With the extra point, St. Charles led 14-6 with 9:52 left in the first half.
St. Charles got one more score in before halftime as the Comets kicked a 37-yard field goal with 30 seconds left in the first half. Halftime score: St. Charles leads 17-6.
The Wildcat defense came out in the second half and looked like a typical “St. James” defense by forcing St. Charles to punt numerous times and ultimately held St. Charles scoreless for the second half.
The Wildcat offense just couldn’t get anything going with the exception of a huge play late in the game that gave St. James a chance.
With 2:13 left in the game and St. James at their own 12-yard line, Craig Duronslet took a run outside and then cut inside to find a very big hole. Duruonslet sprinted the 88 yards for the huge score. St. James went for two and connected when Antonio Phillips hit Terry Isom on a fade pass. The score was now 17-14 at that point.
The Wildcat defense came to life again and forced St. Charles to a quick three-and-out. St. James would get the ball back at their own 22-yard line with 1:32 left in the game.
A few good plays, but no more time outs and St James would run out of time around the Comet 40-yard line.
The Wildcats lose a heartbreaker 14-17.
NOTABLES Tonight’s game marked the 7th time in the 15 seasons under Coach Gaille that St. James has made it as far as the semi-finals. It also marked the 46th post-season game for the Wildcats in those 15 seasons. The list of Louisiana schools that have played that many post-season games in that time span is a very short list and I feel good in thinking that it’s under 10 schools.
In his post-game speech, Coach Gaille stressed the importance of having a good off-season program and that last year’s new summer program improved the football team greatly but they have to take it even further by starting in January as oppose to late spring.
The coach may have stressed this point because high school football is no doubt getting more and more competitive each year and it’ll only be tougher next year playing in a “super” Class-2A, stacked with such powerhouse teams as Evangel, John Curtis, and St. John of Plaquemines. With a good off-season approach however, St. James could be right back in the mix next year.
I would like to end in wishing the senior football players the best of luck and everyone really appreciates the effort and memories they produced for St. James football. The seniors are as follows… Antonio Phillips, Craig Duronslet, Terry Isom, Jared Byers, Ron Reulet, Jordan Landry, Henry Ordoyne, Alex Thomas, and Shane Jones.
St. James athletics will continue with basketball already starting, and all the other sports such as track-and-field and baseball starting in a few months.
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