By LEONARD GRAY

EDGARD – Playing with a lot of heart was not enough for West St. John’s Rams, with a 34-33 heartbreaking overtime loss to Iota High’s Bulldogs Friday night.

“They ain’t stopped us all night,” WSJ Coach Laury Dupont said after the game. “We stopped ourselves. We gave ’em too many big plays and made too many mistakes in crucial situations.”

The Rams loss sends Iota on to a semifinal matchup with Newman, while West St. John turns in their pads.

“Never, but never question the coach’s judgement,” reads a sign in the West St. John locker room, but plenty of parents complained loud and long while waiting for the team to be released after the loss.

“I don’t know anything about football, but I’d have never called that!” insisted one angry mother.

The game ending turned on Dupont’s choice to go for a two-point conversion after the tying touchdown in overtime and sending his running back up the middle, only to fall inches short.

Quinn Johnson scored the first TD late in the first quarter, capping a three-play drive which began at their own 39-yard line.

From that point, it was Patrick Jackson for an eight-yard scramble and Sandy Harris to the Iota 27-yard line, from where Johnson barreled in for the score.

Marcus Isom’s PAT was good for the 7-0 lead with 5:20 left in the first quarter.

Unaccustomed to such fierce competition, the Rams quickly saw that lead snatched away when running back Dores Ledet scored on a breakout 73-yard dash. The PAT by Wade Zaunbrecher tied the tally at 7-7 with 3:41 left in the first quarter.

Finally, in the closing seconds of the first quarter, Quinn Johnson capped a grinding drive which followed the kickoff reception, to score from 16 yards out. For most of that drive, it was Johnson and Jackson who carried the load, eating up the field while winding down the clock.

The PAT, however, fell wide, and the Rams clung to a 13-7 lead with 32 seconds left in the first period.

No more scoring came in the first half, with the biggest highlights being a fumble recovery by Iota, turning the West St. John drive around. However, the Rams defense stiffened, including a five-yard sack.

Once West St. John got the ball back, the Rams drove back up the field, but were intercepted by Zaunbrecher at his own 31-yard line and Iota ran down the clock, ending the first half with the 13-7 Rams lead.

Zaunbrecher was the plague again, as he accepted the opening second-half kickoff and ran 82 yards for the touchdown. Their PAT was wide left, and the score was tied at 13-13, just 15 seconds into the third.

West St. John roared back, though, with another go-ahead TD, capping a three-play, 55-yard drive which ended with Randall Nicholson carrying it in from 34 yards out. Isom’s PAT was good for the 20-13 lead with 10:47 in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Ledet scored with 8:49 on the clock in a one-yard plunge to tie the score at 20-all, but the Rams took the kickoff and set up Jackson’s seven-yard scramble for the score with 6:44 on the clock. This PAT was good for the 27-20 lead.

Iota, though, wasn’t done yet, and scored again with 2:25 left in the third, as Ledet scored on another one-yard TD and their PAT again tied the score at 27-27 for regulation play.

Overtime began with Iota taking their first shot, and they scored on fourth down with Ledet again from one yard out.

The PAT was good, and the Bulldogs led 34-27.

Then it was the Rams’ Jackson, who immediately scored from the 10-yard line and the 34-33 score.

A PAT kick would have given Iota another shot. Dupont chose to go for two and the carrier was stalled, inches from a 35-34 win.