Carroll P. Matherne
November 25, 2008
RoseMary Smith Giron
November 28, 2008
Junior Drew Williamson only made two field goals all season long for the Thibodaux Tigers.
One defeated Lutcher 3-0 in the opening game of the season, and the other, Friday night, helped put the Tigers into the quarterfinal round of the Class 5A playoffs.
After mounting a massive comeback that erased a 22-point deficit, Williamson came on the field with four seconds left to try a 42-yard field goal. The snap: perfect. The hold: perfect. And the kick: perfect. And the Tigers prevailed over the St. Paul Wolves 25-22.
“When he kicked it I was like ‘My God, this thing is perfect,'” head coach Dennis Lorio said.
When the kick went through, most of the Tiger faithful stormed the field to greet the players and to thank Williamson.
“I got to make it,” a very emotional Williamson said of the kick. “We got to go to the third round. No pressure. Move on to the next round and worry about that game. Don’t even worry about this game. Just play for the next one.”
Lorio was equally as stunned as those in attendance.
“We’ve seen some unbelievable games in this stadium,” the coach said. “But this one is definitely up there. We had opportunities but were unsettled at quarterback. I will say this: How many teams are playing in the third round with their number two quarterback? That was the most dramatic change of halves I think I have ever seen.”
Before Williamson became the hero, it was the play of junior Trovon Reed that stole the show. After falling behind 22-0 at halftime, Reed erupted in the second half scoring all three of the Tigers’ touchdowns.
The scoring onslaught started when Reed took a snap from the shotgun and weaved his way through Wolves defenders for 45 yards to cut the deficit to 22-7 with 8:12 remaining in the third quarter.
Then, in the fourth quarter, Carmichael Pharagood found Reed from 11 yards out. The ball bounced out of his hands, but he regained possession to cut the lead to 22-13 with 10:05 remaining. A penalty on the field goal enabled the Tigers to try for two. Brandon Duncan took Pharagood’s handoff up the middle to make it a seven-point game.
Again in the fourth quarter, Reed’s athleticism took over one last time. Facing a third-and-10 at the Wolves’ 47, Reed took the snap, slipped a tackle and ran left. Then he cut back to the right and ran through a crowd of defenders before emerging from the pile and going the distance. Williamson’s extra point tied the game at 22 with 2:05 left on the clock.
“He put his team and his entire city on his back,” Lorio said of Reed.
Reed himself added, “I knew I could make a few plays, but if it wasn’t for these guys around me I wouldn’t be making any. We know we didn’t play our best ball in the first half, so we came out in the second half and did what we knew we could do.”
The most amazing thing is, Reed, who still hasn’t thrown the ball constantly since the E.D. White game, is still nursing a shoulder injury. He wears a protective pad to help the soreness.
“I can play through the pain,” he said. “I’m not going to let my team down.”
Reed was held yardless in the first half but finished the night with 113 rushing yards with two scores and 140 receiving yards with another score.
With the win, the Tigers must now play their first game away from the friendly confines of Thibodaux. They travel to play undefeated Barbe Friday night in Lake Charles.
Like Thibodaux, the Buccaneers are also undefeated (11-0). If the Tigers beat Barbe, they would likely return home for a semi-final match against either West Monroe or Ouachita.
But, Lorio said, right now, all of the focus turns to the Buccaneers and there prolific offense.
“People are saying ‘Yeah, we’re going to the Dome.’ I don’t know if we are going to the Dome but we are going to Lake Charles,” Lorio said.
Thibodaux’s Trovon Reed reacts to Drew Williamson’s 42-yard field goal to win the game. The Tigers, whose last win in a playoff game before this season was in 1991, will face Barbe in the quarterfinals on Friday. * Photo by KYLE CARRIER
