Junior " To-To" Pellegrin
November 10, 2006
Quilts auction to benefit local groups
November 15, 2006
Tri-Parish Times
In a season where everything has gone right for the South Terrebonne Gators, things turned sour at the most inopportune time—the opening round of the state playoffs against Holy Cross. Hosting the 22nd-seeded Tigers, the No. 10 seed Gators blew a 14-0 first-quarter lead and lost 23-14, ending its season with a 10-1 record.
Halfway through the fourth quarter, the outcome of the game remained in question, tied at 14-14. With just under nine minutes remaining in the quarter, South Terrebonne was pinned on its own 7-yard line. Senior running back Phillip Livas broke free down the right sideline and appeared on his way to a touchdown when, untouched, the ball slipped out of his grasp at the Gators’ 40-yard line. Holy Cross recovered, and five plays later, Logan Ryckaert punched it in from three yards out for a 20-14 lead. The extra point failed, keeping the lead at six points.
Livas answered by returning the ensuing kickoff 75 yards, but was tripped up by Holy Cross’ kicker at the Tigers’ 25-yard line. Four plays later, South Terrebonne went for it on fourth-and-one, but fell inches short.
After using all of their timeouts, the Gators’ defense forced a punt with 2:19 remaining, but Livas muffed it and Holy Cross recovered, eventually kicking a field goal with 12 seconds remaining to clinch the victory.
Despite the critical fumbles by Livas, Gators head coach Richard Curlin stood by his game plan to get the school’s all-time leading rusher as many touches as possible. “A big part of why we got (to the playoffs) tonight was because of Phil Livas,” said Curlin. “We were going to try to get him as many touches as we could get him tonight, and I thought … we had one broke. We had the play we needed to make and we didn’t do it.”
After scoring a 51-yard run in the first quarter, Livas threatened with the homerun play throughout the game. And late in the third quarter, it appeared he had hit the homerun on a 42-yard touchdown scamper where he broke a number of tackles at the line of scrimmage.
However, the score was negated when South Terrebonne was whistled for a holding call. The Gators’ eventually punted the ball away.
Holy Cross head coach Barry Wilson said the key to the game’s turnaround was his team’s ability to slow down Livas after he ran for 111 yards in the first quarter.
“I guarantee you No. 3 (Livas) is awesome,” said Wilson. “He’s everything he was built up to be. Our coaches had a great gameplan. We knew we couldn’t let him get to the corner, and we were blitzing corners on him to try and turn him in. He would hit a crack and he’s gone—he’s a great player.”
On the opening drive of the game, South Terrebonne drove 55 yards on five plays to take an early 7-0 lead. Elre Evans capped the drive with a four-yard touchdown run.
Two drives later, the Gators fed Livas the ball on six consecutive plays.
Livas rewarded the play callers with a 51-yard score down the left sideline on the last play of the first quarter.
And from there, things took a downward turn for South Terrebonne.
On its second drive of the second quarter, Holy Cross methodically moved the ball down the field for its first score of the night.
Ryckaert capped an 11-play, 89-yard drive with a 13-yard scoring run. The extra point made it 14-7.
After a three-and-out by the Gators, Holy Cross knotted it up with 57 seconds left in the half.
Paul Lacassange scored from four yards out for the tying score.
“We didn’t panic,” said Wilson. “Our kids, we told them things happen in football games that you have nothing you can do about it. You just have to hang in there and fight it, and we did. We knew we would score. We were tight in the beginning. Once we started hitting on all cylinders, things worked well and we tied it up.”
Curlin said defensively, the Gators could not get off the field. “We let them convert a few too many on third-and-long,” said Curlin, “and that allowed them to keep the ball a little bit longer and cost us some field position.”
Concerning his team’s costly turnovers, Curlin said, “That’s the nature of the game. There’s nothing you can do about that.”
Livas finished with 175 yards on 26 carries, capping a career that saw Livas rewrite the South Terrebonne record books.
As a team, South Terrebonne was outgained 258-160.
Matt LeBlanc can be reached at (985) 876-3008 or matt@tri-parishtimes.com.
