NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — No. 2 Calvary Baptist defeated No. 1 St. Charles Catholic 34-28 to win the Division III Select state championship Saturday at the Caesars Superdome.
A series of unfortunate events keeps St. Charles Catholic from their third state title in a row.
Here’s how everything unfolded:
Up 28-19 with 4:20 left in the 4th quarter, St. Charles Catholic missed a 27-yard field goal.
Calvary capitalized with a 20-yard touchdown pass that cut the deficit to two points.
With under a minute to play the Comets faced a 4th and 1 situation at the Calvary 49 but a run by quarterback Brady St. Pierre would fall short.
St. Charles Catholic turned the ball over on downs.
“I mean it’s a half a yard to win the state championship,” said St. Charles Catholic head coach Wayne Stein.
“We had a little miscommunication and Brady did a great job of almost salvaging it and almost getting it and at the end of the day, we’re going to have to learn from it. You know, it’s something we’ll think about and I still felt confident in our defense. You know, one of the best defenses in the state. Go out there, and again, we just didn’t get it done and a lot of that I have to tip the hat to Calvary. I think it was more about what they did and not what we didn’t do,” added Stein.
The Cavaliers would only need 26 seconds to go 51 yards and score the go-ahead touchdown. Calvary closed out the game on a 15-0 run.
What a ride it’s been for St Charles Catholics football program. 10 straight semi-final appearances, 5 straight state championship game appearances, and they’ve won 2 of the last 3 Division III titles.
The Comets graduate 22 seniors who have witnessed and contributed to that success.
“You’re not going to win a championship every single year, right? This one hurts because it was six inches away, but we’ll learn from it and hopefully be better for it,” said Stein.
Up Next:
When St. Charles Catholic returns to the field next year, they will be in Division II Select, competing against programs like Lafayette Christian and St. Thomas More for that championship trophy.
Here are the highlights featured on WGNO’s Friday Night Football, presented by the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
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