By Dave Woodall

Contributing Writer

 

Hahnville didn’t quit after beginning its season 0-4.  So it certainly wasn’t about to do so after falling behind 14-0 to St. Paul’s in the bi-district round of the Class 5A playoffs.

Indeed, Hahnville rallied, Sergio Medina scoring the game’s winning touchdown midway through the fourth quarter as the Tigers toppled the host Wolves, 25-21.

Hahnville quarterback EastonMelancon played a solid game, hitting on 14-of-28 for 324 yards and two touchdowns.

“Melancon was the difference for us tonight,” said Tiger coach Lou Valdin. “Everything that could go wrong did go wrong in the first half. But even though we made a lot of mistakes we rallied back. We thought we could throw against them and it turned out that we could. After going down 14-0 we just told our kids to calm down and to not quit. I’m real proud of the way they came back.”

It was one and done for St. Paul’s, the bracket’s No. 10 seed. It was a hard pill to swallow, especially for the Wolves’ seniors.

“The kids played hard but it wasn’t enough,” said SPS coach Ken Sears. “We will build on this and come back even harder next year.”

The Wolves ended the season 7-4 and were undefeated in District 6-5A play with a 6-0 record, winning their fourth consecutive crown.

Hahnville, who advances to the regional round, improves their overall record to 7-4. The Tigers were also undefeated in District 8-5A with a 5-0 mark.

From the outset it looked as though the home folks at Hunter Field were in store for a big victory by the Wolves.

St. Paul’s scored on their first possession after driving 82 yards in eight plays. Wolves’ quarterback Ryan O’Krepki hit Ben Anzalone with a 12-yard touchdown pass. Grant Hebert’s point after gave the Wolves a 7-0 lead after taking 6:39 off the clock.

The Wolves scored again on their next series again via the air.

O’Krepki hit Anzalone again this time from 28 yards out for the second tally. Hebert was good again on the point after for a 14-0 margin with only 1:02 left in the first quarter.

On the ensuing possession, Hahnville’s quarterback Easton Melancon hit Ricky Preston with a 66-yard pass. After catching the ball Preston lost the handle on it and fumbled on the St. Paul’s 18-yard line where defensive back Christian Berry recovered it.

But the Tigers were not to be denied.

Following a Wolves’ punt, Hahnville took over again at midfield.

Three plays later, it was Melancon again hitting on the long ball this time covering 52 yards to Kailon Carter for the first Tiger touchdown. Craig Ford missed on the point after to make it 14-6 with only 1:55 left in the half.

Unfortunately for the Wolves, they had to punt leaving too much time left on the clock. The Tigers took advantage of it and drove down to around the Wolves’ 12-yard line. The Tigers brought out their kicking specialist Ford who then proceeded to kick a 39-yard field goal with no time left on the clock narrowing the Wolves’ margin to 14-9 at the half.

In the third quarter, a big defensive play led to the final score of the game for St. Paul’s.

With 4:30 left, Hahnville took over at its own 21-yard line. The Wolves blitzed Melancon who fumbled all the way back to the Tigers’ two-yard line where St. Paul’s defensive back Sean Lozes fell on it. One play later Wolves’ linebacker Ed Duplessis, who was pressed into service in the back field, ran it in from two yards out for the score. Hebert’s PAT was good giving the Wolves a 21-9 cushion with 4:12 remaining in the third quarter.

Two minutes later Ford hit another 39-yard field goal for the Tigers to narrow the Wolves’ margin to 21-12.

Hahnville scored again at the 11:05 mark of the fourth quarter when Melancon threw a 6-yard touchdown strike to Preston. Ford was good again on the point after pulling the Tigers to within two at 21-19.

The Wolves continued to struggle on offense and were forced to punt on their next two possessions.

With over seven minutes, left Hahnville mounted the game winning drive. Three minutes and 11 plays later Sergio Medina ran it in from two yards out to end the scoring at 25-21 after a failed two-point conversion.

A 45-yard kickoff return by Marcus Gaines gave the Wolves hope with time running out.

But the Tigers’ defense held as the time ran out.

Defensive standouts for St. Paul’s were Lozes, Duplessis, Jase Stubbs and Gustavo Garcia.

Having a big night on defense was Hahnville’s Deangelo Rivera, Frederick Brown, Timothy Roberts and Jovon Murray.

After the Wolves went up 14-0, their offense fizzled failing to gain any positive yardage on the ground, ending up with a negative 11 yards.

Derek Drago led the rushing attack with 12 yards on three carries.

O’Krepki had a good night in the air hitting on 13-of-27 for 184 yards and two touchdowns giving the Wolves 173 total yards on the night. O’Krepki connected with Anzalone on both scoring tosses, covering 40 yards. Gaines finished with four catches for 71 yards and Ryan Malone also had four receptions for 34 yards. Rounding out the receiving yards was Jalen McCleskey with two catches for 38 yards and Justin Elzy with one catch for one yard.

It was a different story for Hahnville who had the more balanced offensive attack racking up 420 total yards.

The Tigers rushed 38 times for 96 yards. Medina had 133 yards on 29 carries scoring one touchdown. Several other runners had a negative 37 yards.

Tigers’ quarterback Melancon was quick to give credit to his team.

“We worked too hard to go out in the first round. These guys are awesome and they never quit,” Melancon said.

Hahnville moves to the regional round this week when they host No. 7 seed Parkway. The Panthers advanced with a 36-13 win over No. 26 seed Live Oak.