Earning Another Shot: Parkview Follows Graves’ Season-High Passing Total, 3 TDs to Advance for an Opportunity against No. 1 Dunham
by: William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Parkview Baptist quarterback Noah Graves spent the great majority of his team’s season-opening defeat against The Dunham School on the sideline with a concussion.
The pain of that injury, coupled with the loss, hasn’t gone away for Graves or the Eagles who will get an opportunity to atone for their Week 1 setback.
“It definitely hurt,” Graves said. “I have a chip on my shoulder, and I think our whole team does. I think we’re going to show a lot next week.”
No. 16 Parkview Baptist did its part, thanks in part to Graves, to advance in the Division III select state playoffs with a 49-21 victory Friday over No. 17 Lafayette Renaissance Charter in a game played at Parkview.
The Eagles (7-4) extended their win streak to three games and travel to face No. 1 Dunham in Friday’s Division III select regional. The Tigers scored a convincing 46-0 victory, a game Graves was knocked out in the second quarter.
“We struggled all around,” Graves said.
Graves didn’t have such difficulty in his team’s playoff opener. He completed 12 of 22 passes for a season-high 301 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for the game’s first score – a 6-yard run – for a 7-0 lead near the end of the first quarter.
“Their style of play defensively is they challenge you,” Parkview Baptist coach Stefan Lefors said of Lafayette Renaissance. “They put a lot of people down in the box to stop the run and trust their corners to go one-on-one. You like to establish the run but if they’ve got you outnumbered, you’re kind of forced to take what they give you.”
Parkview Baptist built a 14-0 lead after the Eagles held LRC on downs when Noah Sorrel batted down a fourth-down pass attempt from Kennan Brown at the Tigers’ 39.
Freshman running back Sevin Domingue carried twice for 32 yards and Sorrel lined up at quarterback in the shotgun, kept for a 7-yard score at the 9:42 mark of the second quarter.
LRC (6-4), a program in its first year of existence, got back into the game Ja’Courey Duhon’s 89-yard punt return with 4:39 to go before halftime.
It’s what came next that buried the Tigers.
PBS reeled off 21 unanswered points over the final 3:27 to take a 28-7 halftime lead.
“He definitely gave us a boost on that play, kind of gave us some energy on the sideline,” LRC coach Hunter Landry said. “We came out flat and I think that’s the story of the night. We came out flat and didn’t really match their energy.”
Graves led his offense on back-to-back scoring drives of 74 and 55 yards and defensive back Jacob Hess brought back Brown’s interception for a 53-yard score with 53 seconds to go before halftime.
Graves connected with senior Luke Lefors, the son of the coach, on a 64-yard TD strike, and Domingue darted 28 yards on first-and-10 for another score.
Domingue finished with 23 carries for 101 yards in his second career start, helping PBS register 403 yards and a season-high points allowed by LRC’s defense.
“He’s stepped up a lot,” Graves said of Domingue. “He’s a freshman and has done a good job. He’s good at finding holes and our offensive line obviously made some tonight. He’s good at making cuts and put us in a good position to throw the ball which is our strong suit.”
LRC had the ball at its own 20 with less than a minute until halftime when Brown’s second-and-20 attempt sailed high to Hess who went untouched on his pick-6 and placekicker Gavin Higgins closed the half with his fourth of seven extra points.
“He was trying to fit it into a tight window,” Landry said of Brown, a sophomore with more than 2,400 yards passing and 27 TDs this year. “Hats off to Parkview, their guys were prepared. He was trying to do maybe a little too much and instead of living to play for another down. Maybe we could have run it and gone into half with the score like it was. I felt we were playing catch-up. He was trying to make a play, and their guy made a play.”
LRC forced a pair of turnovers with Kaycee Sellers’ fumble recovery in the first quarter and Javion Eugene’s interception midway through the third quarter.
The Tigers picked up their first offensive touchdown with 6:24 to play on a 7-yard pass from Brown to Jaquelle Smith and Hunter Hayes added the extra point.
Brown, who was sacked eight times for 45 yards in losses, completed 19 of 38 passes for 230 yards with Smith (5-24), Duhon (5-57), and Dwayne Johnson (5-92) leading the way.
“I’m super thankful and excited for these seniors,” Landry said. “They gave us everything when we got there in February. They left it all out on the field tonight. We had 13 of them that did everything we asked and were great teammates. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t play another week and spend time with them another week. For a first-year (program) I thought we did a lot of good things. Now our guys know exactly what we need to do to get better and what it takes to be one of those top programs.”
Graves’ performance also included fourth-quarter scores of 70 yards to Gatlyn Grace and 61 yards to Luke Lefors with 7:26 and 4:28 showing, respectively. Sophomore CJ DeLeon led the Eagles with five catches for 41 yards followed by Lefors (3-130, 2 TDs) and Grace (2-85. TD).
Of his three touchdown passes, Graves’ average length per score was 65 yards.
“We’ll take it however we can get it,” Coach Lefors said. “If we’re forced to have to do that, throughout the course of a game, the more bombs and shots you take, the percentages go down. You hit a couple of those, they can be deflating to the defense. We had five or six explosive plays that we were able to hit tonight.”
Parkview Baptist 49, Lafayette Renaissance 21
Score By Quarters
Lafayette Renaissance 0 7 0 14 – 21
Parkview Baptist 7 28 0 14 – 49
Scoring Summary
PBS – Noah Graves 1 run (Gavin Higgins kick)
PBS – Logan Sorrel 7 run (Higgins kick)
LRC – Ja’Courey Duhon 89 punt return (Hunter Hayes kick)
PBS – Luke LeFors 64 pass from Noah Graves (Higgins kick)
PBS – Sevin Domingue 28 run (Higgins kick)
PBS – Jacob Hess 44 interception return (Higgins kick)
PBS – Gatlynn Grace 70 pass from Graves (Higgins kick)
LRC – Jaquelle Smith 7 pass from Kennan Brown (Hayes kick)
PBS – LeFors 61 pass from Graves (Higgins kick)
LRC – Noah White 54 kickoff return (Hayes kick)
LRC PBSFirst Downs 13 16
Rushes-Yards 21-(-8) 31-102
Passing Yards 268 301
C-A-I 21-39-1 12-22-1
Punts-Avg. 5-33.8 4-35.0
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1
Penalties-Yards 12-75 8-65