Teurlings holds on for victory over Notre Dame

LAFAYETTE – The game was everything you would expect when Notre Dame and Teurlings meet on the football field. The 40th meeting of the two area rivals came down to the final possession with the Rebels holding on for a 17-14 win Friday night on the turf at Teurlings.
“We had a chance and I’m awfully proud of our guys,” said Pios coach Lewis Cook. “We hurt ourselves with turnovers, put ourselves in a tough position and couldn’t quite come all the way out of it, but it was a good game.”
It sure wasn’t looking that way, though, when Teurlings extended a 10-nothing halftime lead with an 8 play, 80 yard drive to start the third quarter. Notre Dame had started the second half with an onside kick that was rolling between five Pios as it crossed the ten yard mark and was about to be recovered in Teurlings territory.
The possible game changer was blown dead by officials for a sideline warning on the Teurlings coaches. That continued a frustrating night that saw the Pios flagged on six inopportune times in the first half.
Notre Dame kicked it off again, this time for a touchback, and after completions of 32 and 30 yards from Teurlings QB Cole Kelley to slot back Sage LeBlanc, the Rebels faced a fourth and ten at the Pios 18.
Teurlings lured the Pios into consecutive offside penalties with line shifts for a first and goal at the eight. Kelley then completed a fade route to senior receiver Ike Hidalgo for a 17-0 lead.
“It couldn’t have looked any worse,” added Cook. “Nothing was going our way. They forced two turnovers in the first half, every penalty went against us and they were making plays. There was nothing we could really hang our hat on and the guys found a way to get back in it and have a chance to win it.”
Notre Dame had started the game exactly as planned. Mixing runs by Lance Bertrand, who finished with 99 yards on 22 carries, and a ten yard, third down pass from Brad Stoma to Ethan Smith, the Pios were looking at first down on the Teurlings 18.
Damon Comeaux swept the left side for an apparent touchdown, only to have the score called back for a penalty. Stoma scrambled 11 yards for a first and goal at the seven. On third and goal from the four, Stoma optioned left and was chased down from behind with the ball stripped and recovered by Teurlings at the one to end the 17 play drive.
“We had a touchdown, it gets called back and we are on the two and it gets knocked out of our hands,” added Cook. “There are a lot of plays you can look back on that might have turned it a different way.”
The Rebels marched 75 yards and settled for a 40 yard field goal by Brayden Blanchard for a 3-0 lead two minutes into the second quarter.
With four minutes left in the half, Cook went to the playbook for a double reverse from midfield. Teurlings had a blitz called, forced a fumble and recovered at the Pios 35 yard line.
On the first play, Kelley lofted a pass for Nate Arceneaux on a corner post. The senior receiver leaped over a Pios defender to make it 17-0.
Notre Dame answered with QB Brad Stoma scrambling right and hitting Boedy Borill for a 39 yard completion down the ND sideline. With four minutes to go in the half, rolling right on third down at the Rebels 25, Stoma was intercepted when hit while throwing.
“The three turnovers hurt us,” noted Cook. “We tried to run a reverse and they had a really good call on defense. If we get it out of there, it’s got a chance to be a big play, but that’s on me. The other two are execution, guys trying to make a play.”
With eleven minutes to play, Teurlings went for it on fourth down at the Pios 29. Trey Vautrot came off his defensive end position to pressure the Teurlings QB into a quick throw and an incompletion.
“The third quarter we had no field position and just couldn’t get out of the hole,” added Coach Cook. “We get backed up, make a couple of runs and get called for a chop block. It was frustrating. Our defense stayed after them and gave us a lift with that stop.”
The Pios offense responded with a 71 yard drive in eleven plays to get on the scoreboard. QB Brad Stoma optioned right and faked a pitch, opening a seam in the Rebels defense for a 12 yard touchdown run. Stoma rushed for 56 yards on 12 carries and threw for 140 yards in the game. Dustin Reiners added the point after making it 17-7 with 6:39 to play.
Vautrot added another QB hurry and a tackle on the next two plays. Connor Kirsch forced a third down incompletion with pressure up the middle and the Pios took over at their 22.
“Defensively, we played well all night,” Cook explained. “They are going to make some plays, but our guys stayed after it and we finally got it going. To hold that bunch to 17 points with all those formations and that big kid standing back there just winging it on every play, they did a great job.”
The 6-7 Teurlings QB did complete 23 of 40 passes for 345 yards, but 202 of those came in the first half. After the minute and a half scoring drive to start the third quarter, Kelley completed just 6 passes for 73 yards the rest of the night and two of those were for losses.
Ten yard completions to Gabe Gardiner and Joe Faulk were followed by a 34 yard hookup from Stoma to Borill at the Teurlings six. Lance Bertrand powered in from there, cutting the Rebels lead to 17-14 with another Reiners PAT.
“We flipped our protection and had more time to throw in the second half. That kind of settled us a little and got us going again on offense.”
On the next possession, with third and one at the Teurlings 21, Shea Zaunbrecher chased down the Teurlings ball carrier and dragged him out of bounds for no gain to force a punt. The junior linebacker led the Pios with eight tackles and helped hold the Rebels running game to minus 16 yards on the night.
The Rebels defense got a sack on first down and after a short completion on second down, forced two incompletions to end the Pios hopes. The Teurlings win was only the 12th in 40 meetings between the schools.
“I think we grew up as a team,” Cook summed up. “I saw us get better in the fourth quarter with all odds against us, so there’s a lot to build on from this one. We’ve played three 4A schools and they looked like it. They were bigger than us, but our guys didn’t back down. Now we have to go get ready for next week.”
Notre Dame will play five of their remaining seven games at home. Next week starts the run with St. Louis visiting Gardiner Stadium.