Rams stun Gents on last second field goal

CROWLEY – It was one of those “coulda, woulda, shoulda’’ nights for the Crowley Gents in their 2014 home opener against the Westlake Rams.
One week after opening the season doing everything right in a rout of Wossman of Monroe, the Gents just coudn’t do much of anything correctly Friday, turning the ball over three times, failing to convert six times on fourth down and turning the ball over on downs four times in the red zone.
They coulda won, they woulda won and shoulda won.
But they didn’t.
Instead,  Jonathan Peshhoff booted a 21-yard field goal with five seconds left, lifting the 3A Rams (1-1) a 17-14 upset of the Gents at Gardiner Memorial Stadium.
“We just didn’t play good offensively at all tonight,” said CHS coach Josh Fontenot, whose team fell to 1-1 with the stunning loss. “We just did not execute on offense: we turned the ball over; we dropped passes; we did not play well at all.
“It was like night and day from what I saw last week. It was not even close to the same team offensively.”
The writing was on the wall early.
After John Marceaux picked off a pass deep in Westlake territory with 10:29 left in the first quarter, the Gents drove to the Westlake 5 yard line behind runs by Jacq’Co Price, Ty’Von Griffin and Pate Broussard.
But a dropped pass in the end zone on fourth down forced the Gents to turn the ball over on downs and the stage was set for a long night.
A pair of three-and-outs followed for the Gents before they turned the ball over on downs again early in the second quarter - at the WHS 35-yard line.
Things finally looked up for the Gents on the second possession of the second quarter, following a 24-yard pass from Pate Broussard to Terrell Thomas. Griffin followed with a 13-yard run and then another two runs by the tailback got the ball down to the WHS 6-yard line.
But again, no cigar.
Instead, the Rams pushed the Gents back to the 11-yard line and on third-and-goal, Broussard was intercepted in the end zone to snuff out another possible scoring threat.
“You drop a touchdown pass, you get inside the 10 (yard line) again and you go backwards and then you throw a pick in the end zone..... We just couldn’t get anything going,” said Fontenot.
Fortunately, the Rams weren’t doing any better.
The Gents’ defense was the reason, limiting the Rams to 13 total yards over the first 22 minutes of the game.
“Defensively, this was the best game I’ve seen us play in three years,” said Fontenot. “They (Westlake) are well coached and they are going to find some things. I don’t think they crossed the 50 in the first quarter and we didn’t get anything...nothing out of it.
“And that’s on us. We have to score points. We’ve got the players there, we just have to execute.”
But after the Gents were forced to punt, the Rams finally got going, starting from their own 20 with 1:46 remaining in the half.
Michael Boudreaux popped a 21-yard run on the first play of the series and then a pass interference call against the Gents put the Rams into Gent territory at the 33.
The Rams went to the air for a 26-yard strike before quarterback Hunter Racca hit Chris Ledet from 10 yards out to give Westlake a 7-0 lead.
The Gents regained the momentum to start the second half when Griffin took the kickoff at the Gents’ 25 and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown. The extra point attempt failed, but the Gents broke the ice and trailed just 7-6 with 11:47 remaining in the quarter.
Westlake took the momentum back later in the period when CHS’  Terrell Thomas fielded a punt in heavy traffic and fumbled after being hit by three defenders.
The Rams recovered the ball at the Gents’ 27-yard line and after a 24-yard run by Boudreaux, Racca hit Ledet in the end zone from three yards out to increase the lead to 14-6.
The Gents marched inside the 20 again on their ensuing possession, but a sack on fourth-and-long gave the Rams the ball back at their own 22.
Fortunately, the Rams returned the favor one play later when they fumbled and CHS’ Jardell Delco recovered. It took just one play for Broussard to connect with tight end John Marceaux on a 26-yard scoring strike from there. Broussard and Marceaux hooked up again for the two-point conversion to tie the game at 14-14 with 1:14 remaining in the third quarter.
The Gents had two more chances in the fourth quarter to potentially take the lead, but Westlake thwarted each one.
After converting on another fourth down with a pass to Thomas, the Gents were at the WHS 21 when Broussard was picked off for the second time.
Again, Westlake returned the favor with a fumble on the first play and C.J. Douresseaux recovered at their own 26.
From there, the Gents drove down to the WHS 26 on a pair of runs by Keith Wilson and a pass interference call.  Wilson went down on the next play with a leg injury and one play later, after a run to the 11, Griffin went out with an injury. A sack and three straight incomplete passes forced the Gents to turn the ball over on downs once again.
“We were down to our third- and fourth-team running backs there at the end,” said Fontenot. “I don’t want to speculate, but we might not have Keith back. When you don’t have your running backs there at the end, it makes it tough. But then again, we had chances: We dropped some passes there; we threw another pick; we just looked like a very sloppy football team.”
The Gents had one last opportunity with 2:32 remaining when they drove to the WHS 43. On fourth down, Fontenot elected to go for it with under a minute to go and an incomplete pass  gave the Rams the ball back with decent field position.
Starting from their own 43, Westlake drove down to the CHS 4-yard lines on runs by Racca and Boudreaux and a pass to Ryan Buller with five seconds remaining.
From there, Peshoff split the uprights on a field goal for the game winner.
“I figured the way our defense was playing, let’s go get it,” said Fontenot of going for it on fourth down with under a minute to go. “I wanted to go and score and win and I thought our defense was playing well enough to do that. I never really thought about it (punting) because defensively, we were really lights out all night.”
The Gents posted just 250 total yards offensively on the night.
Griffin accounted for nearly half of that with 21 carries for 113 yards Wilson finished with 10 carries for 41 yards.
Broussard completed eight of 27 pass attempts for 107 yards, hitting Thomas three times for 32 yards and Marceaux twice for 30. Wilson also had one reception for 28 yards, Price had one catch for 12 yards and Quanterral Robinson had one for five.
“We really got lucky to score what we scored,” said Fontenot. “We really didn’t play well enough to score any. I mean, the fight is there and the effort is there, but you have to execute; you can’t just show up and try hard.
“It comes down to football and this is big boy land; this is 4A football and you have got to play, you can’t just try hard.
“Now I don’t want to say we gave one away because Westlake played great. They deserved their win, but we just had nothing. We just couldn’t go and couldn’t do anything tonight.”