St. James brings their high power offense to Baton Rouge to play L.B. Landry
Writer/Contributor Jo Eddlemon
Who says high school football has to be on Friday Nights? Not the St. James Wildcats or the L.B. Landry Buccaneers. Both teams took the ride Thursday to Baton Rouge and Southern University to play at A.W. Mumford Stadium.
After overcoming devastating damage due to Hurricane Ida, the St. James Wildcats are thankful for every opportunity to play. St. James found themselves battling more then just getting back on their football field. The Wildcats needed help suiting up their players to be able to play a game. Coaches from all over the state stepped up and provided much needed support to AD/HC Robert Valdez and his team. Shoulder pads and helmets were temporarily donated by Jennings High School. Archbishop Shaw offered to wash uniforms for them after last weeks game. Mandeville High School donated headsets for the coaches to use in last weeks game against Shaw. as well.
St. James started the night off slow offensively and saw themselves down in the first half but true to the perseverance of the Wildcat, St. James came clawing back to put up 41 Points to take the win over L.B. Landry.
St. James RB Daniel Jupiter, Air Force commit, took the opening kickoff 45 yards to set the Wildcats up for the first score of the night. Jupiter scored on a 15-yard touchdown run with 10:45 left in first quarter.
Landry then took advantage of three straight St. James turnover’s to create scoring opportunities. Landry’s Gerald Martin recovered a fumble and took it 55 yards for a Landry touchdown to tie the score at 7 all with 7:04 left in 1st. Landry added another score on a 24 yard touchdown pass from Jerome Stewart to Ronja Delaney. The score was set up by an interception from Landry’s Vernon Watkins with 5:27 left in the first. The series resulted in Landry extending their lead over St. James 13-6. The Buccaneer’s again scored on a 59 yard run by Belvin Baker with 1:04 left in the first quarter, off a Wildcat fumble, to extend their lead to 20-6.
Cyler Christmas, senior defensive back for the Wildcats, kept St. James in the game as he made two interceptions off of Landry’s quarterback Jerome Stewart.
St. James top prospect, Kicker Alec Mahler hit a 46-yard field goal for St. James at the 10:48 mark in the second quarter to cut the Buccaneer lead to 20-9.
St. James continued to claw away, using its quick strike offense, as Marquell Bergeron found Kaden Williams for a 10 yard pass that lead to a touchdown to cut Landry’s leads 20-17 with 5:01 left in second quarter. Bergeron found Williams again for a 25 yard touchdown pass to take their first lead of the night with 1:39 left in the half, 24-20 St. James over Landry. That would be the score at halftime.
The Wildcats came roaring out the second half and opened up with a 31-20 lead on Landry after a 26-yard TD run from Daniel Jupiter with 10:17 left in third.
Landry continued to battle, Stewart hits Ronja’ Delaney on a 26 yard touchdown to cut into the Wildcats lead 31-26 with 4:33 left in third quarter.
Alec Mahler then hit a 37 yard field goal to extend St. James lead to 34-26 with 5:42 left to play.
Four star wide receiver Shazz Preston jumped in to the mix and caught a dramatic pass in the endzone, in heavy coverage and getting a toe down, for a 15-yard touchdown from Marquell Bergeron to make it 41-26 with 2:13 left.
Final: St. James def. Landry 41-26
