By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

The list of accomplishments that the John Curtis Patriots have collected over the years on the football field is too numerous to list.

But thanks to St. James, 2007 10-2A District Champions will not be among them.

That’s because DeMel Dumas’s 68-yard interception return set up a Luther Ambrose go-ahead touchdown with 5:33 left in regulation of the Wildcats matchup with the Patriots at Muss Bertolino Stadium on Friday night.

And after the Wildcats defense held strong once again, and forced the Patriots to a turnover on downs, the celebration was on, as St. James took a 16-14 victory, shocking the No. 1 rated team in Class 2A.

&#8220It was a pretty remarkable game,” said St. James coach Rick Gaille. &#8220We were up, down, then up again. This team showed a lot of mental toughness and discipline to come back and win.”

St. James (7-2, 4-0) clinched the outright district title with the win.

In Gaille’s 15 years at the school, he can list a number of huge wins – a win over a top rated Destrehan team led by Rondell Mealey in 1993 springs to mind – but rates this among the best.

&#8220It certainly ranks up there,” Gaille said. &#8220One of the things that we strive for is to play big in big games. It’s still a regular season win, but one that gives us confidence.”

Curtis led 14-10 with 6:44 remaining in the game when Dumas intercepted the pass and turned the game around.

&#8220Dumas made a great play, but the entire defense made that happen. Guys were in the proper position, executed their assignments and got pressure on the quarterback. Our guys hadn’t seen them execute that play, but still kept to their assignments.”

St. James outgained Curtis (6-2, 2-1) 282-169, and ran for 193 yards on 39 attempts.

Ambrose led the wildcats with 88 yards on 12 carries. Kenny Zenon ran for 72 yards on 15 carries and Gary Davis ran for 37 yards on seven carries.

Marcus Dumas passed for 89 yards, 64 of which going to Justin Williams.

St. James led 10-0 after the first quarter, but would relinquish the lead before halftime. Zenon scored from eight yards away to make it 7-0 at the 4:09 mark of the first quarter.

A Juarelle Narcisse 30-yard field goal put St. James up 10-0 with 2:47 left in the quarter.

But Curtis quarterback Matt Saucier answered in the second quarter, finding tight end Chris Guillot for a 32-yard score to cut the lead to 10-7. Then, Saucier found receiver P.J. Smith on a 10-yard scoring pass to take a 14-10 lead.

&#8220Some of the players were kind of down at the half,” said Gaille. &#8220We challenged them to pick themselves up and play each play like it was the last they’d ever have.”

St. James did just that, as Curtis struggled to move the football for the entire second half.

The win was Gaille’s first over Curtis, and the school’s first win over the Patriots in the 39-year J.T. Curtis era.