2014 - GAME 3

SAINT JAMES 21, Catholic 14
CAT         7       0       0       7          14
 
STJ          0     14       0       7          21
SCORING SUMMARY:

CAT  (1)    1:26   Stokes 99 run                                      (Davis kick)        0 -  7
STJ   (2)  10:19   Robinson 9 run                                  (Taylor kick)        7 -  7
STJ   (2)    2:17   Dean 29 pass from Melendez            (Taylor kick)     14 -  7
CAT  (4)    4:24   Smith 40 pass from Armstrong         (Davis kick)     14 - 14
STJ   (4)    0:22   McCoy 92 run                                    (Taylor kick)     21 - 14

September 12, 2014.  Carlisle Field, Montgomery   Game Conditions:  Partly cloudy early, rain/lightning delay third quarter   Wind:  Light to S 15 to W 5-15 to Calm
 

In a game which this writer will never ever forget in more ways than one; a game which featured big plays (mostly by the opponent), a 40 minute lightning delay, and an unbelievable run on what was likely to have been the last play of regulation turned into the biggest play of all as Jaylen McCoy took a simple handoff intended to run out the clock for overtime, broke into the secondary, and raced past charging Knights at midfield on his way to an unbelievable 92 yard touchdown run and a crucial region win as Saint James defeated Vaughn Road neighbor Catholic 21 - 14 in front of some hearty souls who withstood a brief rainstorm.  The run was more fantastic than the previous run-on sentence.

The Trojans, who had started off so strongly in their first two games, suffered disaster on the opening kickoff as a cross-field kickoff was muffed several times and recovered by the Knights at the Saint James 29 yard line.  Sherman Grant picked up 10 yards on first down and Catholic was in the Saint James redzone literally seconds into the game.  However, the Trojan defense stiffened and a fourth down sack of quarterback Galen Armstrong forced the ball back to the 30 and Saint James took over.

Jonathan Robinson picked up 24 yards on four consecutive plays, including 15 yards on a third down conversion.  Two plays after a penalty, Connor Collier called his own number and ran for another first down to the Knight 36.  After a timeout, Saint James tried some trickery with M.J. Melendez trying a downfield pass after a pitch, but the receiver broke the route and Catholic's Grant intercepted the ball deep in Trojan territory.  A block in the back erased most of the return, but Saint James which had been relatively turnover free had two in the first few minutes of the first quarter.  A chop block on first down forced Catholic inside their own five yard line, and they eventually punted.  Saint James' next three plays netted no yards, but Melendez booted as good a punt as you could ask for - from the Knight 46 to actually inside the Knight 1 yard line - and it appeared Catholic may have been safety fearful.

Or not.  On first down on a simple handoff, Thomas Stokes cut back up the middle at about the five yard line, dashed into the close up secondary at about the ten, then veered toward the Knight sidelines and outraced all Trojan pursuers on his way to a Carlisle Field record 99 yard touchdown run.  The Josh Davis extra point was good, and Saint James trailed 7 - 0 near the end of the first quarter.

As many eyes were to the skies and to smartphones looking at impending weather issues as everyone realized every score in this game was crucial as it could have easily been weather shortened.  Trajan Morrissette started an impressive Trojan drive with a return of another cross-field kickoff to the 35.  A Collier carry and a defensive penalty gave the Trojans a first down, and early in the second quarter Robinson runs of 7 and 11 yards gave Saint James first down at the Knight 35.  Collier found Jalen Harris open down the middle on a pass and he dragged receivers to the nine yard line, where one play later Robinson followed fine blocks by Wes Cherry and Atchison Hubbard around the right end for a Saint James touchdown.  Coleman Taylor's extra point tied the score at 7 early in the second quarter.

Several plays after an out of bounds kickoff, Stokes picked up 25 yards on a run to move the ball to the Trojan 38.  A defensive pass interference penalty gave Catholic another first down at the Trojan 20.  However, Catholic all night bogged down once they got inside the Saint James red zone, and again Stokes was held to a four foot run on fourth and two from the Trojan 12.  Robinson, the Trojans ground workhorse yet again, carried on six of the next seven plays, and his five yard run gave Saint James third down and three from the Knight 29.  Melendez, who was quarterbacking on the drive, found Dozier Dean on a pass to the near sidelines, and what should have been about a five yard gain for a mere first down suddenly turned into a 29 yard vaunt for a touchdown as he sneaked past potential tacklers.  Taylor's kick gave the Trojans a 14 - 7 lead with just over two minutes remaining in the half.  Catholic, with only one time out, could not reach Trojan territory before the halftime horn sounded, and eyes again looked toward the sky as band members scurried, successfully, to perform their shows before a hint of rain.

The rain and lightning, only miles away, continued to hold off into the third quarter.  A fine punt return by Taylor after Catholic's unsuccessful opening drive gave Saint James the ball at the Knight 32, but Robinson was stuffed on a fourth down carry and the Knights took over.  Quarterback Galen Armstrong executed a wonderful bootleg run for 16 yards moving the ball to the Trojan 43.  However, the drive stalled and Taylor risked fielding a bouncing punt amongst Knights, which he did and held on to just outside the 30 yard line.  An 8 yard run by Collier was negated by a holding penalty, and as the penalty was being marked off a vivid bolt of lightning struck, not to the northwest as was anticipated, but within a mile or so of the field to the southeast.  Play was immediately suspended at the 5:27 mark of the third quarter at 8:44 PM.  A second far less serious bolt was seen one minute later, but no lightning occurred afterwards.  The rain drizzled very lightly during the mandatory 30 minute break, and within seconds of the referees announcing the teams could take the field to warm up, the heaviest rain of the night began to fall.  First Catholic and then Saint James warmed up in a rather heavy rain with wind, but it moderated just as play resumed after a 40 minute delay.

Two plays later, the wet ball syndrome struck the Trojans as the ball was knocked loose from Collier and fallen up by Catholic at the Trojan 13.  Three plays netted a loss of one yard, and on fourth down Armstrong lofted a pass which was caught just out of bounds in the endzone, and Catholic once again turned the ball over on downs inside the Saint James red zone.  Robinson picked up 27 yards on first down to give Saint James some badly needed field position, and he later overcame another holding penalty with a combination of runs up the middle and off tackle.  However, Saint James could not overcome a second holding penalty in the drive as Robinson was stopped on fourth down in the Catholic red zone early in the fourth quarter.

On first down, Stokes broke loose on a very similar play to his 99 yard jaunt earlier, but this time Jaylen McCoy ran him down at the Trojan 17 after a 64 yard gallop.  The Trojans defense stiffened once again and for the fourth time in the game, Catholic was stopped on fourth down inside the Trojan 20, this time at the Saint James 11.   The Trojans could not get any momentum and punted on the first play after the fourth quarter heat timeout, giving Catholic first down on the Trojan 40.  Two plays later, after a one yard sack and a one yard run, Armstrong found his receiver Reese Smith running past a Trojan defender and a pinpoint pass was caught in the endzone for a 40 yard touchdown.  Catholic considered going for a two point conversion, lining up to the side of the field prior to a kick, but settled successfully for the tying extra point, and the score was 14 all with less than 4½ minutes remaining in regulation.

Despite a 12 yard run by Collier, Saint James could not convert a first down and Catholic had good field position after a punt needing only three points to take the lead.  However, the Trojan defense held and a punt down to the nine yard line with just over a minute remaining seemed to indicate the game was destined for overtime.  After Robinson was stopped for a yard loss on first down, it looked even more apparent.  Catholic, which had only one time out remaining, was probably waiting until third down to call said timeout.  Third down never arrived.  A simple handoff to Jaylen McCoy which Coach Perry himself insisted "was a safe handoff just to run out the clock" turned into a broken tackle at the line of scrimmage, and suddenly McCoy was into the secondary.  The Catholic safety tried to race across the surface and stop him near midfield, but McCoy zoomed past him and raced into the endzone for an absolutely unexpected 91 yard touchdown run, the fifth longest in Saint James history, with less than 22 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

Numerous players and several coaches both overreacted and raced on to the field resulting in unsportsmanlike conduct / celebration penalties, and Catholic chose to take the penalties on the ensuing kickoff.  Taylor's extra point was good, no guarantee considering the wet ground, and Saint James was miraculously up 21 - 14.  However, the penalty pushed the kickoff back to the 25 yard line and left the Saint James coaching staff with a dilemma.   A kickoff out of bounds would not suffice, as the Knights would indeed insist upon a rekick even five yards further back.  A long deep kickoff was not an option as it could never reach the endzone and dangerous returners were back very capable of taking the ball all the way back.  An onside kick was out of the question too, because Catholic called in their hands team and a recovery would give the Knights two or three plays from inside the Trojan 40 in all likelihood.  Taylor was instructed to, and executed beautifully, a long squib kick which Stokes fielded on his 28 and could only return as far as the Knight 38 while using up over 7 seconds of clock time.

Armstrong completed a pass to Grant for 16 yards, and out of bounds, to the Trojan 46.  However, after the play, an unsportsmanlike conduct foul was called on Catholic, and the 16 yards was almost fully negated by a 15 yard penalty.  With less than 8 seconds remaining, Catholic had time for one desperation play.  A long pass was anticipated, but a simple handoff to Stokes led to several laterals and pitchbacks before the Knights were stopped after only gaining a few yards, and time had expired in a game which most everyone expected extra periods.  The Trojan fans and players were ecstatic, and the Knights fans and players were obviously dejected but played an equally tough game in less than ideal conditions.  The Trojan win, the 13th in the last 15 meetings between the Vaughn Road neighbors, gave Saint James a 2 - 0 Regional Record as they looked forward to a suddenly vulnerable Andalusia squad the following week.

SIDELINE STATISTICS - GAME THREE

SAINT JAMES    RUSHING   42 attempts   318 yards   2 TDs   (7.57 yards per carry)

                                1   Robinson            34 / 192  (1 TD)     6   McCoy           3 / 96  (1 TD)    12   Collier            5 / 30

                              PASSING   5 completions  9 attempts  1 INT   65 yards  1 TD

                              12   Collier                    4 - 6 - 0      36 yards
                                2   Melendez               1 - 3 - 1      29 yards    1 TD

                              RECEIVING

                              10   Dean                     2 / 36  (1 TD)    43   Harris              1 / 26                   1   Robinson       2 /   3

                              TOTAL YARDS:  383

                              KICKS:      XP  3 / 3      FG   0 / 0
                              2 POINT CONVERSIONS:  0 / 0
                              KICKOFFS:  4  (OB,43,52,47)                  PUNTS:  3  (45,23,27)
                              KO RETURNS:  2  (0f, 10)                       PUNT RETURNS:   3  (4,17,3)
                              FIRST DOWNS:   15   (12 rushing, 2 passing, 1 penalty)
                              THIRD DOWN CONVERSIONS:   4 / 9
                              FOURTH DOWN CONVERSIONS:  0 / 2
                              FUMBLES:  2, lost 2
                              TURNOVER MARGIN:  - 3
                              POINTS OFF TURNOVERS:  0
                              ACCEPTED PENALTIES:   8 / 85
                              TIME OF POSSESSION:  23:34

CATHOLIC          RUSHING    39 attempts  249 yards  1 TD  (6.38 yards per carry - 5 Stokes  16/184)
                              PASSING       6 completions  11 attempts  0 INTs   75 yards  0 TDs
                              TOTAL YARDS:  324

                              KICKS:      XP  2 / 2      FG   0 / 0
                              2 POINT CONVERSIONS:  0 / 0
                              KICKOFFS:  3  (36,35,OB)                      PUNTS:  4 (37,32,18,37)
                              KO RETURNS:  3  (13,14,10)                  PUNT RETURNS:  0
                              FIRST DOWNS:  9  (6 rushing, 2 passing, 1 penalty)
                              THIRD DOWN CONVERSIONS:  4 / 12
                              FOURTH DOWN CONVERSIONS:  0 / 5
                              FUMBLES:  2, lost 0
                              INTERCEPTION RETURNS:  1  (14)
                              POINTS OFF TURNOVERS:  0
                              ACCEPTED PENALTIES:  6 / 45 yards
                              TIME OF POSSESSION:  24:26

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