Down to the Wire: Final Interception Enables Catholic-New Iberia to Secure D3 Select State Title over Dunham
by: William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
NEW ORLEANS – After its offense went dormant for 27 minutes, The Dunham School managed to come out of its slumber in time to push Catholic High of New Iberia to the brink.
The Tigers scored twice over a five-minute span of the fourth quarter and thanks to a blocked punt, drove to the Panthers’ 3-yard line with 53 seconds to play and the Division III select state championship hanging in the balance.
Sophomore defensive back Karon Eugene clinched seventh-seeded Catholic High’s second state title in seven years, intercepting Dunham’s Elijah Haven in the end zone with 46 seconds left for a 31-28 victory in the Allstate Prep Sugar Bowl Classic at the Caesars Superdome.
“They said go make a play, we went out there and made a play and then celebrated with the team,” Eugene said of his team-leading eighth interception of the season.
Catholic, which defeated defending champion Calvary Baptist on the road in semifinal action, concluded its season 13-1, winning its last 12 straight games after a Week 1 loss to Division IV state champion Vermilion Catholic.
The Panthers rallied from a 14-3 first-quarter deficit by reeling off 28 unanswered points until the game got really interesting.
“To do what they did was special,” Catholic coach Matt Desormeaux said. “They deserve this.”
Catholic quarterback Luke Landry was selected as the team’s Most Outstanding Player. He completed 19 of 35 passes for 226 yards and 2 TDs and because of his elusiveness in the pocket, wound up with 62 yards on 11 carries on the ground.
Landry, who finished the season with 2,847 yards passing and 39 TDs, outdueled Dunham’s Haven, rated the nation’s No. 1 prospect in the Class of 2027, who accounted for 458 yards and all four of his team’s touchdowns.
Haven earned the Tigers’ Most Outstanding Player honor, passing for a Class 2A/Division III record of 300 yards (25 of 37) with an interception and two touchdowns.
“I just think it shows coach’s confidence in us to go make a play,” Haven of coach Neil Weiner’s decision to go for a touchdown instead of a potential game-tying field goal. “We had all the confidence in the world the play was going to work. That’s not how it worked out and you just have to live with it. We gave it our all.”
Dunham (13-1) closed to within the final score on a 1-yard TD run from Haven. He also connected with Trevor Haman on a 42-yard score with 3:39 to play, leaving the Tigers staring at a three-point deficit after Andrew Bardwell’s extra point.
Dunham forced Catholic to punt from its own 43 when William Ours blocked the effort of Joseph LeBlanc. Joshua Lazard picked up the loose ball and returned it to the Panthers’ 8-yard line with 1:44 showing.
“I had complete confidence and faith in our kids to do exactly what they did,” Weiner said. “It wasn’t for one second that I got worried about anything.”
Haven carried twice on the final drive for five yards and threw incomplete, setting the stage for the game’s biggest play.
Following a Dunham timeout, Haven rolled to his left and had the option to either run or throw. He spotted Jarvis Washington breaking open until Eugene closed for the game-sealing interception.
“The arrow (route) kind of closed up and then Jarvis tried to leak out and I tried to get to him and he (Eugene) made a good play,” Haven said.
Dunham finished with 458 total yards, led by the outstanding effort of Haven who pushed his career totals in total offense to 6,772 yards and 105 TDs.
Haman led the Tigers with 11 receptions for 122 yards and a TD, while Washington added 10 catches for 151 yards and a score.
“It’s the best team we played coming into it. We knew that,” Weiner said of Catholic. “The best-coached team we played. We knew that. Hats off to them. It was a clean game.”
Catholic scored the most points against Dunham this season.
The Panthers, who had 387 yards of offense, followed the running of Owen Morris with 14 carries for 70 yards. He also topped the team with seven receptions for 73 yards.
“I thought the offense played well the entire game,” Desormeaux said. “Our goal is to find points when we get into the red zone and that’s what we did. We continued to click. With all the weapons we have I know it’s difficult and credit to Dunham for taking different things away. Credit to Luke for finding the open guy. Our offense played lights out all game.”
Catholic stretched its scoring blitz to 31 straight points, scoring on its first possession of the third quarter to build a commanding 31-14 lead at the 8:14 mark.
It was the longest drive of the game for the Panthers – 12 plays for 71 yards – that included a key fourth-down conversion when Owen Morris picked up three yards to keep the series alive.
Morris picked up 23 yards on third-and-five and two plays later Landry found tight end Joseph Landry for a 6-yard TD pass.
Dunham, which trailed by 17 in its quarterfinal win over Lafayette Christian, finally stopped Catholic’s surge when Haven scored on a 1-yard run with 8:51 remaining and Richard Montgomery recovered Gavin Byrd’s onside kick, but the Tigers fumbled at the Panthers’ 10-yard line with 6:55 left.
Catholic completely reversed the script from the opening quarter, scoring on three consecutive drives to take a 24-14 halftime lead.
Led by Landry, the Panthers outgained the Tigers 172-78 with 51 of those yards coming on the home team’s final drive which ended on an incomplete pass.
Haven launched his final attempt of the half from behind the line of scrimmage at the 31-yard line and into the end zone where Washington came down with the ball between two defenders.
A lengthy review ensued, and officials upheld the call.
“There was none,” Weiner said of an explanation from the officials. “They ruled him out. His foot was in bounds. The signal of the official was that he was out of bounds, that his foot was not in. Everyone in the Superdome could see that his foot was in bounds. If it was about the catch, that’s fine, but that’s not what was called on the field and I thought that was the purpose of the replay to confirm the call on the field.”
Catholic rallied from a 14-3 deficit in the first quarter with three scoring drives of 49, 67, and 48 yards in its last four series, the finale coming on John David Hildalgo’s 2-yard run with 36 seconds to go before halftime.
Dunham, which had 158 yards of offense in the opening quarter, scored on its first two drives of the game for a 14-3 edge.
Haven combined on nine of the team’s 11 plays and 70 of 78 yards to begin the game, and his 5-yard keeper on third-and-goal resulted in a 7-0 lead after Bardwell’s extra point.
Bennet Boudreaux’s 35-yard field goal came at the end of a 10-play drive, but Dunham needed less than two minutes to cover 53 yards in 10 plays with Washington hauling in a 38-yard TD pass from Haven at the 3:21 mark.
Landry completed 8 of 15 passes for 105 yards and a pair of touchdowns to rally his team’s 21-point second quarter.
Tristan Lewis’ second-effort score from 14 yards out ignited the Panthers’ stretch of 21 unanswered points that Landy added to with a 1-yard pass to Bennett Woodring to give his team a 17-14 lead with 5:07 until halftime.
Landry scrambled for 16 yards and on second-and-10 and got out of bounds with 49 seconds left. He followed with a 30-yard completion to LeBlanc, setting up Hidalgo’s second score of the half – lunging near the goal line to complete a 2-yard score.
“Control what we can control,” Desormeaux said of his message to his team. “They (Dunham) made some great plays. We had to keep battling for 48 minutes. We knew it was going to come down to that. We came into this game prepared to be a battle until the very end. Just like last week and these guys never quit.”