All that coach Nick Saltaformaggio’s Hahnville players gave him for his birthday was what he called the “greatest win in my career.”Saltaformaggio celebrated his birthday Sunday two days after his Tigers made an improbable rally past St. Thomas More Friday night, erasing a 14-point deficit with just over two minutes remaining to play to earn a dramatic 43-42 victory at Tiger Stadium.
St. Thomas More pulled ahead 42-28 via a touchdown pass with 2:25 left in the fourth quarter. But Austin Perrin threw two touchdown passes and a two-point conversion pass in the final 2:14 of play, that two-pointer going to Michael Gray for the winning points. Perrin connected with Anthony Williams for an 80-yard touchdown pass with 2:14 remaining. Then Hahnville’s defense recorded a stop, St. Thomas More suffered a high snap on their ensuing punt attempt, leading to Perrin’s fourth down, 6-yard touchdown pass to Waylon LeBlanc.
Saltaformaggio elected to go for two, and the rest was Tiger lore.
“For me, even including the state championship game (his 2013 win with East Jefferson), it’s the greatest win in my career,” Saltaformaggio said. “Certainly in my career at Hahnville. For two-and-a-half years, I feel like it’s kind of been, ‘he’s the head coach who won state at East Jefferson.’ This one identified me as the head football coach at Hahnville.
“That win personified everything I personally believe in as a coach. You fight to the very end. You believe in your players. You believe in one another and you never give in.”
Saltaformaggio said he made the decision to go for two in the event his team would score a touchdown on its final drive even before the Cougars’ punt miscue.
“As soon as we stopped them, I told coach Dan Erwin, ‘we’re going for two,’” Saltaformaggio said. “There were a lot of reasons for it. We weren’t stopping them … had we not gotten the conversion, then it falls back on me, and that’s what I want. I’m gonna protect my players every time.”
Most of all, Saltaformaggio wanted to send a message to his players with the call.
“I never, ever, ever want our kids not to understand that we’re always gonna be about winning at Hahnville. In class, in the community and on the football field,” Saltaformaggio said. “We had a chance to win that game, right there, and we were gonna take it.”
It was an emotional scene at Hahnville last week, but Saltaformaggio warns his team must put that win behind them. Terrebonne (2-3, 0-2) travels to Boutte to face Hahnville (3-2, 0-1), with both teams searching for their first district victory and with Hahnville celebrating its homecoming week.
Beating St. Thomas More, Saltaformaggio said, won’t add up to much if the Tigers don’t follow up on the win.
“I think you can channel that momentum and it can be very significant, but you have to manage it right,” Saltaformaggio said. “As great as it is, if you lose this next one, you’re at 3-3. That’s where we were last year. When you get a win like that, it’s important that you keep it going.”
Terrebonne struggled to score last week at Destrehan in a 44-17 loss. The first four games of the year saw THS average 35 points per contest, including wins over Ellender, South Terrebonne and Assumption and a loss to Thibodaux.
Saltaformaggio said when it comes to this opposing Tigers team, size is the greatest concern.
“They’re huge up front, both offensively and defensively,” he said. “They’re bigger than we are. They run a two quarterback system. They’ve got a kid who runs it really, really well and another who throws it really, really well.”
Those quarterbacks, Mason Turner and Tristan Duplantis, key the Terrebonne attack and can be a handful to try to corral.
Establishing the run and getting Anthony Williams and Devonte Clark rolling figures to be key offensively for Hahnville. Terrebonne allowed more than 400 rushing yards to top Destrehan runners Kristian Mosley and John Emery, a fact not likely gone unnoticed by Saltaformaggio and HHS offensive coordinator Lester Ricard.
The success Perrin had through the air last week will probably help loosen things up on that end. Perrin, the left-handed senior passer who returned to the program as starting quarterback after focusing on baseball last season, passed for 300 yards and four touchdowns and one interception against St. Thomas More.
Though Perrin went 8-2 in starts as a sophomore for the Tigers in 2014, last Friday’s game likely goes down as his most memorable performance.
“I hope I’m here coaching for a long, long time. But I don’t know if I’ll ever coach as big a winner as Austin,” Saltaformaggio said. “He’s the consummate winner. I’ll put the ball in his hands every time.”
In some ways, the opponent was fitting for the third year Tigers coach. Before the beginning of this season, Saltaformaggio called his team’s 52-12 loss to St. Thomas More the worst defeat he’d suffered as a head coach. A year later, the Cougars were on the other end of his favorite win.
Perrin’s scoring strike to LeBlanc came on a fourth down slant pass. It was LeBlanc’s second touchdown reception of the night.
“A.P. came to the huddle and said go to inside and make the winning catch,” LeBlanc said. “And I just had to convert … All my body was tingling. It’s the best I’ve ever felt, just amazing.”
After that, Saltaformaggio decided his team would go for the win right there. Perrin rolled left but found nothing, bought time and threw across his body to Gray, who hauled it in while falling out of the back of the endzone for the game-winner.
The play call, Saltaformaggio notes, was the same the team went to for a key two-point conversion against Destrehan in the fourth quarter of the previous week, a Perrin-to-Williams connection in that case.
“And Anthony was open,” Saltaformaggio said. “But it went to Mike Gray in the back of the endzone and he made a great catch.”
Both Williams and Devante Clark were questionable to play earlier in the week due to injuries, but each suited up Friday night. Williams had a huge night, rushing for 140 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries while hauling in four receptions for 115 yards. Clark finished with 13 touches for 62 yards.
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