Jackson scores with :46 left to key 12-6 win over Northeast

PRIDE — Patrick Jackson caught a screen pass from Juan Joseph and took it 38 yards for a

touchdown with :46 seconds left to lift the West St. John Rams to a thrilling 12-6 victory over host Northeast last night.

With the win the Rams, the defending Class 2 A champions, will once again be returning to the Superdome with a chance to defend their crown.

West St. John is scheduled to meet St. Helena Central in the title game. That contest is tentatively slated for a 5 p.m. start on Friday.

Last night’s semifinal-round game between the defending champs and this year’s No. 1-ranked 2A team was a defensive struggle throughout.

The Rams netted 128 yards rushing as a team and threw for 263 yards, but the Northeast defense, with its “bend but don’t break” mentality, yielded just the two touchdowns.

West St. John, meanwhile, held its foe to a mere 89 yards rushing and kept it to 122 yards through the air.

Before last night’s game, Rams head coach Laury Dupont said his club had to contain Northeast’s playmaker, Trindon Holliday, and that’s exactly what it did.

Holliday had one big play, an 85-yard punt return for a touchdown in the third quarter that gave Northeast a 6-0 lead.

The Rams, however, answered with a score of their own in the period that tied the contest.

Once again, it was Jackson and Joseph hooking up for the score, this time on a 20-yard pass, that knotted the game at 6-6 and set the stage for the duo’s closing-seconds heroics.

Jackson finished the game with 93 yards rushing to go along with his two receptions.

Joseph, meanwhile, completed 13 of his 22 passes for 263 yards and two touchdowns.

Holliday had 81 yards rushing to pace the Northeast ground game and Demetric Rogers connected on nine of his 15 passes for 122 yards and he was intercepted two times.

The Rams’ stingy defense forced Northeast to commit three turnovers on the night, one of which was a fumble recovery by West St. John.

“Both teams played their hearts and guts out, but our defense rose to the challenge,” Dupont said.