Wolves fall to Bears in overtime thriller

RAYNE - A game that was predicted to be the one to watch in the opening week of the 2015 football season was at Wolf Stadium Friday evening as the Rayne High Wolves hosted the Church Point Bears. And by all means, it lived up to its prediction.
In a marathon that lasted a little over three hours, included overtime play which saw the Bears take a come from behind 27-26 win over the Wolves.
“We had a good first half,” stated Rayne High Head Coach Curt Ware of the close loss at home, “but, we kinda hit a hall midway throughout the second half. We had seven or eight guys cramping up, forcing us to play some new guys in crucial situations when we needed our starters in there.”
Ware continued, “We just ran out of steam, plain and simple. Our conditioning let us down tonight.”
As noted by Ware, the Wolves came out in the opening half lightng up the scoreboard first. Drekylon Gibson and Deontrey Wilridge touched the endzone and Donald Doucet kicked in two extra points for a 14-0 Rayne lead midway through the second quarter.
But, Church Point used the kickoff for an 88-yard kick return for the Bears’ first score of the ballgame. A two-point conversion attempt failed and the Wolves held a 14-6 lead with seconds remaining in the first half of play.
That’s all the time Gibson needed to score his second touchdown of the night from 34 yards out. The extra point was wide and Rayne held a 20-6 lead heading into the locker room.
The second half of play was all Church Point as the Rayne defense was forced to stay on the field for two long drives, resulting in seven Rayne High players out with legs cramps and two Church Point touchdowns.
On the last play of regulation, it seemed as though Church Point had scored the winning touchdown. But, the white hat called the play short, sending the 20-20 tied ballgame into overtime play.
Overtime saw the Wolves go first and 10 first, seeing Wilridge score his second touchdown of the game. But, the extra point was wide right and the Wolves held a 26-20, leaving the door open as the Bears took their mark.
On first and 10 on the 10, a Church Point pass attempt was rejected by Rayne’s Gibson, and Tony Gabriel claimed one of his four tackles of the night, bringing on third and six from where the Bears scored. As all eyes were downfield, the extra point split the uprights and Church Point claimed the 27-26 one point victory.
“These two teams were head to head all night, but just in different halves,” continued Ware. “There’s not much difference on stats. We just have to take a better look at our conditioning and go from there.”
Hinting of stats, Ware was correct. The Wolves edged the Bears in total offense by just seven yards (Wolves 273, Bears 266).
Church Point edged Rayne in their passing game with eight of 15 completions for 171 yards. Wilridge was two receptions for 34 yards and Devonte Robinson was two for six yards.
Wolf quarterback Jaylon Reed was 4 for 7 in the air for just 40 yards -- leaving the majority of Rayne’s yards on the ground with 233 yards on the night.
Hitting the seams for Rayne were Deotrey Wilridge (25 for 106 yards, 2 TD’s), Drekylon Gibson (9 for 68 yards, 2 TD’s), Darien Harmon (4 for 28), Reed (10 for 20), Trent Winbush (4 for 9) and Zach Boudreaux (two yards).
On defense for the Wolves, Gibson led in tackles with eight, Gabriel had four with a tackle for loss, along with Trent Winbush, Richard Breaux, Carl Davis Davis. Adding assists were Nicky Faucheaux, Brant Broussard, Devonte Robinson, Austin Coleman, Grant Trahan, DJ Stelly, Jake Richard and Trevor Yokum.
The Wolves will hit the road Friday as they head to Lake Charles to take on the St. Louis Saints. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.