By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE — After three consecutive classic meetings, it seemed almost fitting that East St. John and St. Charles Catholic would end a jamboree clash in a tie.

That’s exactly what happened Friday night at Joe Keller Memorial Stadium, as SCC’s Patrick Juneau planted a 25-yard field goal square between the uprights as time expired to ice a 6-6 tie in what has become — particularly for an annual jamboree exhibition — a extremely competitive rivalry.

The jamboree was contested over two 15 minute halves.

The game pitted two teams each breaking in a contingent of new faces offensively — including first-year starters at quarterback — and that boasted suffocating defenses. The game’s flow fit that scouting report as first downs came at a premium.

Attempting to close the game on its final drive, with 8:04 remaining, Leonard Davis found Deszmann Broussard to convert a third-and-nine, a 20-yard gain to ESJ’s own 45. But SCC forced an incompletion on a third-and-three, then got a critical stop on a Davis run on fourth down to set up some late game drama.  

The Comets took over at their own 41 and quickly had to convert a fourth down of their own. Weber did, rushing for a 5-yard gain. Baptiste and Chad McNeil nearly connected for a deep completion – Baptiste deftly evaded the pressure of Justin Anderson’s rush on the play — but the pass fell just out of McNeil’s grasp. Then SCC dialed up a screen, but Nigel Anderson levied a big hit upon Mario Young to drop the Comets for a 3-yard loss.

On third-and-13, Lewis ran a draw to convert, gaining 18-yards. But time was winding down and again, SCC needed to convert on fourth down with under a minute left; Weber made the big throw this time, hitting Lubin for an 11-yard gain with 35.9 seconds left.

Lewis ran a draw for seven yards, then SCC spiked it to stop the clock with 9.2 seconds left. On third down, Weber tossed a fade to McNeil, but Jeremy Piper had good coverage and forced the incompletion.

On fourth down, St. Charles coach Frank Monica called for the field goal unit and Juneau, whose clutch kicking figured so prominently in SCC’s state championship run last season, proved clutch again.  

“We had decided to kick it there if we got it close,” said Monica. “People may look at it a different way, but it’s good for us to get the field goal team work under pressure. And the other important thing, to me, was our kids fought back hard in the second half.”

East St. John coach Phillip Banko also took positives from the hard-hitting game.

“I was proud of our defense for forcing the field goal try,” said Banko. “Ahmani (Martin) broke up a play on that drive, then Piper made the play in the endzone … St. Charles is an exceptional football team, but our guys made a stop.”

Neither team crossed the 40 for the majority of the first half, but just before halftime St. Charles got a drive going and entered ESJ territory when Jemal Baptiste — who rotated with Austin Weber at quarterback for SCC — hit Garrett Lubin over the middle for a 20 yard gain to the ESJ 40 with 36.7 seconds left. But the Wildcat defense responded with back-to-back sacks of Baptiste by Darren Williams and Fred Williams to end the half.

Those big defensive plays foreshadowed the play of the night for East St. John early in the second half. Safety Ahmani Martin read a sideline route and jumped a Baptiste throw, intercepted the pass and took it 45-yards for the touchdown to make it 6-0 with 13:39 left to play. The extra point attempt was no good.

Martin, a sophomore who attended SCC as an eighth grader, had dropped a surefire pick-six in the team’s scrimmage a week earlier against St. Augustine. He found redemption at the jamboree.

“We play with a chip on our shoulder,” said Martin.  “Because we lost a lot of people, people have been saying we’d fall back this year. We’re sticking together to prove people wrong.”

Added Banko, “He’s already becoming one of the better safeties we’ve ever had. He’s making checks for our defense out there and then making plays once its snapped.”

With the momentum seized by the other side, St. Charles jumpstarted its offense with two of its old standbys: strong special teams play and the “Comet” formation. Jordan Favorite returned the ensuing kickoff 42-yards to set SCC up in ESJ territory.

Tailback Erron Lewis lined up at quarterback and ran six times for 27 yards on the drive to help set up a 28-yard Juneau field goal with 8:04 left to make it 6-3.

“After the pick-six, the team was a bit demoralized. But nobody quit.

They played with great effort. We just need to get smarter. We’re making mental errors that we just haven’t corrected.”