By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

EDGARD — West St. John senior running back Bradley Borne heard all the preseason talk that a rebuilding year was on the way for his Rams after a slew of graduations the past two seasons.

“It’s like coach (Robert) Valdez always says,” Borne said Friday night, “We don’t rebuild, we reload.”

And indeed, Borne and his Rams are headed back to the Class 1A semifinals for the fourth consecutive season after a dramatic come-from-behind win over visiting Plain Dealing, 35-20.

West St. John is set to travel to Haynesville next week in that semifinal round. WSJ has faced Haynesville twice in the past three years in the postseason, including one semifinal and one quarterfinal, with each team earning a win. Both previous games were also at Haynesville.

The Rams trailed 20-7 at halftime but didn’t allow the Lions to score at all in the second half, while WSJ scored on its first four second half possessions — while the fifth saw WSJ taking kneel downs to seal the victory. 

Valdez said earlier in the week his players have responded positively to adversity all season long, and his players answered the bell again.

“It’s playoff football,” said Borne, whose hard second half running helped kickstart the WSJ offensive push. “When you get down, you have to respond. As seniors, we’ve worked all year with our younger guys to get them ready for games like tonight.

“We wanted to go back to Haynesville. It didn’t work out for us last time, but we wanted another chance and now we’ve got it.”

As the teams regrouped at the half, it certainly seemed third-seeded West St. John might have been primed for an upset by the six seed Lions. Plain Dealing twice stuffed WSJ (10-2) on fourth-and-short and answered the Rams’ lone first half touchdown with a quick score set up by the ensuing kick return.

Valdez and his Ram players pointed to two, early second half defensive stops as the key to the comeback.

The first saw the Lions gain just two yards on three plays, quickly punting the ball back to WSJ. Borne began the next drive with runs of five and eight yards. A penalty and a Lions sack of quarterback Jemoine Green forced a third-and-25, before Green and Jabari Walters connected for one of the biggest plays of the Rams season: a 48-yard pass and catch down the sideline to set up a first-and-goal from the five.

Plain Dealing (9-3) forced a fourth-and-six — following a false start — and Green dialed up his top target, tossing a jump ball Morell Bartholomew came down with to make it 20-14.

“We settled (Green) down at halftime,” Valdez said. “Once he settled down and remembered where his big boy, No. 3 (Bartholomew) was, we were in pretty good shape. They came up big.”

Plain Dealing quarterback Logan Allen earned a 13-yard gain on the first play of the next series, but then linebacker Nicholas Borne went to work, sacking Allen twice to eventually force another Lions punt.

“We had a big talk at halftime, and we realized we had to come out and dominate the second half,” Borne said. “We want to do something great this year, and we had to keep it going tonight.”

West St. John faced a fourth-and-two at midfield on its next possession; Green’s hard count drew a defender offsides, earning a first down. Lamore Boudoin and Borne chewed up short gains to move the Rams into scoring territory before Green connected with a wide open Boudoin over the middle, the latter scoring a 30-yard touchdown. Anfernee Lumar’s extra point put WSJ ahead by one, 21-20.

The Rams forced a fourth-and-25 next and another Lions punt.

With the ball, a Rams tipped pass was nearly intercepted by the Lions’ Derreon Washington. A third down incompletion was negated by a Plain Dealing personal foul, extending the drive. Green found Bartholomew on a quick out on a key fourth-and-six, setting up Borne’s eventual 4-yard touchdown run. A personal foul pushed back the extra point attempt 15 yards, but Lumar booted it through anyway to make the lead eight.

While wide receiver Jabari made an earlier big play through the air, brother Jamal Walters came up with the night’s most memorable defensive play: he recovered a fumble on Plain Dealing’s ensuing drive, setting up WSJ at the Plain Dealing 27. Green and Bartholomew capped off that drive with a 3-yard touchdown connection with 2:59 remaining.

WSJ had to get one last stop to seal the deal, and a fourth down deflection by Bartholomew did just that — and kept the Rams’ championship quest alive.

Green completed 13 of 17 passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns. Boudoin totaled 124 yards from scrimmage on 19 touches, along with two touchdowns.

While the win was major for the Rams on its own merits, Borne nodded after the game in acknowledgement that each victory means a little more for these Rams in the aftermath of the tragic death of WSJ assistant coach Juan Joseph two weeks ago.

“It’s real simple,” Borne said. “We’re doing it for coach Juan.”