On a number of occasions during Friday night’s Class 5A second round game between host Hahnville and John Ehret, it appeared the Tigers were on the verge of swinging momentum in their favor for good. But each time, John Ehret had an answer — and as result, the Patriots are moving on to the state quarterfinals, and the Tigers saw their season come to an end as Ehret emerged with a 35-28 victory in Boutte.
The Patriots will travel to face Destrehan in the Class 5A quarterfinals next week.
Ehret (10-2) powered to the victory on the back of their running game, led by senior Byron James Jr., who rushed for 126 of his game-high 137 yards in the second half.
“It’s like I told our guys, it’s hard to knock out the guy that’s been there before, because you have that taste,” Hahnville coach Nick Saltaformaggio said of Ehret, which was Class 5A runner-up last year. “We knew coming in, (quarterback Travis) Mumphrey’s had a really great year. Their skill guys were good. Bottom line, we couldn’t get off the field. We couldn’t stop them.”
Hahnville (9-3) trailed by two touchdowns in the third quarter, but cut that deficit to 35-28 after Austin Perrin connected with Jha’quan Jackson deep for a 59-yard touchdown with 31 seconds remaining in the third.
Ehret forced a punt on Hahnville’s next possession, but with 3:13 left in the game, a Patriots fumbled pitch and recovery by the Tigers’ Eli’jah Brent gave the Tigers new life. But Hahnville failed to generate a first down on what turned out to be its final possession, Ehret forcing three incompletions, including a 4th-and-8 stop.
“When we did get the turnover, they did what we couldn’t do,” Saltaformaggio said. “They bowed their necks up and stopped us.”
Ehret briefly lost Mumphrey in the third quarter when he cramped up deep in Hahnville territory. James took over at quarterback and punched in a 6-yard touchdown to put Ehret ahead 35-28. Mumphrey came back on his team’s next possession and finished the game.
“Our quarterback,” said an emotional Ehret coach Corey Lambert as he embraced his passer. “And he’s getting better. He’s getting better.
Lambert said the plan going into the game came down to corralling Tigers’ star Anthony Williams, who rushed for 55 yards on 10 carries in the game.
“I thought our offense would score on their defense. If we could sustain drives and keep (Williams) off the ball, keep them behind the sticks, then they’d want to get it to him in passing situations,” Lambert said. “He’s dangerous running the football.
“They did a good job spreading it around. But give our kids credit. One man shouldn’t beat 11.”
Saltaformaggio admitted that if he could do it over, Williams would have seen more touches.
“We probably would,” Saltaformaggio said. “Hindsight … but no doubt, we probably would have.”
Williams did make a momentum turning play in the third quarter after Mumphrey scored a 10-yard touchdown on a sweep to make it 28-14. On the ensuing kickoff, Williams returned the ball 88-yards for a touchdown. It was one of his few chances to handle a kick on a night Ehret habitually kicked away from him.
“Williams is special,” Lambert said. “I told him before kickoff, Pooka, you’re not getting it. He’s that good. We weren’t supposed to kick it to him there … I told our kicker, kick it into the stands next time. We’ll take it on the 35.”
Ehret scored after receiving the opening kickoff of the night, then Hahnville responded on a 17-yard touchdown run by Perrin to tie the game. Hahnville took a 14-7 lead on Devonte Clark’s 20-yard touchdown run, then Ehret pulled within one on Mumphrey’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Darius Campbell. The extra point attempt was wide.
James scored his first touchdown on a sweep left with two seconds left in the first half, making it a 20-14 Ehret lead at halftime.
“To me, when you get down to these 16 teams, everybody’s got great players,” Saltaformaggio said. “It’s who can make the plays on defensive side of the ball. We just weren’t able to do it tonight.”
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