Teurlings Catholic Shows Versatility Against Calvary Baptist

by Dan McDonald (Special to Acadiana Postgame)

Yes, Teurlings Catholic is more than quarterback Cole Kelley.

Oh, Kelley did his thing Friday night at Rebel Stadium, accounting for four touchdowns in the first three quarters, but it was running back Noah Harris that stepped up when the Rebels needed it most.

Harris ran for 141 yards and three second-half touchdowns, and his solid effort helped boost the Rebels to a comeback 45-28 win over the Cavaliers in their season opener.

The Rebels (1-0) rallied from a 21-6 deficit in the first minute of the second quarter, and did it surprisingly on the backs of the running game. In fact, Teurlings came out of the locker room and marched 80 yards on eight straight runs to start the second half, on the way to scoring on four of their five second-half possessions.

“We felt like we’d be able to run it,” said Teurlings coach Sonny Charpentier. “Their strength is on pass defense, and our guys don’t worry about who gets it done.”

Kelley threw for three touchdowns and ran for another, throwing for 214 yards, but he only had four pass attempts in the second half when the Class 4A second-ranked Rebels went heavily to the ground game. In all, TCHS had 176 of its 221 rush yards in the second half.

Harris had 102 of those second-half yards, including capping that drive to open the second half with a 14-yard touchdown run that gave the Rebels their first lead at 25-21. Then, late in the third quarter and after a 56-yard punt return by Hayden Cantrelle to the Calvary 3, Harris went three yards on the first play for his second score.

In between, after Gregory Grappe jumped on a fumble by Cavalier quarterback Jake Bartley, Kelley capped a 58-yard drive with a 16-yard strike to Jansen Lormand. Harris later capped the scoring with a four-yard run with 1:22 left.

Calvary, the second-ranked team in Class 2A, scored three times in a span of nine plays in bolting out to a two-touchdown lead early in the second period. But after that, the Cavaliers scored only once in their last eight possessions.

“We felt like with the depth we had, nobody going both ways, that we’d be able to do that,” Charpentier said. “They’ve got quite a few guys playing on both sides of the ball. Plus, we missed some opportunities early ... they did some things that we hadn’t seen.”

Bartley, in his first game at quarterback in replacing IMG Academy transfer and returning All-Stater Shea Patterson, threw for 245 yards and two scores while running for another. Running back Kordavion Washington ran for 151 yards a score, but those two accounted for all but three yards of Calvary’s offensive total.

In a game that promised offensive fireworks, it took both teams two possessions to even manage a first down. But when they started, they didn’t look back as the Cavaliers scored three touchdowns in a seven-minute stretch. In fact, the game’s initial first-down came on a 70-yard strike from Bartley to Austin Cook behind the Rebel secondary midway through the first period.

TCHS struck back three minutes later when Kelley found Paul Joe Hammes for a 46-yard score, but a bad snap negated Brayden Blanchard’s extra-point attempt and kept it a 7-6 game.

Bartley engineered a quick 58-yard drive and scored himself on a four-yard keeper, and after forcing a punt, Washington popped loose on a 53-yard touchdown run on the third play of the second quarter to give Calvary a 21-6 lead.

Teurlings cut that margin three plays later when Jacob Richard took an out pattern from Kelley and went 82 yards down the sideline 10:15 before halftime, and late in the first half a quick four-play drive took it to the Cavalier 7 before Kelley scored himself on a keeper. A potential tying two-point conversion pass from Kelley to Harris was stopped short of the goal line to leave Calvary up by two at the half.