The Haughton Bucs and Parkway Panthers scored seven touchdowns each in their non-select Division I first-round game Friday night at Prescott Field.
It all came down to what happened after they scored, the extra-point kicks and two-point conversions.
After quarterback Bryston McCoy scored on a 13-yard run to get Parkway within 47-46 with 1:19 to play, the Panthers lined up for a two-point try.
It looked like Gary Burney Jr. was open in the back of the end zone. McCoy fired a pass in his direction. Haughton’s Ethan Johnson managed to get to Burney just in time to break up the pass.
Like Burney, Taylor is a standout receiver. Haughton Head Coach Matthew Sewell said Friday’s game was his first to play defense and he only went in for a few plays.
The Bucs recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock on the 47-46 victory.
Haughton (9-2), the No. 11 seed, will visit No. 6 Destrehan (9-2), a 34-36 winner against No. 27 East St. John, in the second round Friday.
Parkway closed its season 5-6.
While the last two-point conversion attempt was obviously big, so were the other attempts.
Parkway went for two six times and made two. The Panthers had one extra-point kick blocked.
Haughton’s Ethan Osbon made five extra-point kicks. One attempt was blocked.
After the Bucs’ final touchdown with 2:25 left in the game, Sewell elected to go for two.
A nine-point lead would probably have sealed the victory. But a pass failed, giving Parkway the chance to win it.
The Panthers drove 68 yards. McCoy, who threw six touchdown passes, hit Damian Decaldecal for 38 yards. He ran once then scored the touchdown on the next play.
“Wow, what a game,” Sewell said.
Parkway took a 6-0 lead on its first possession. Haughton answered and led 7-6 at the end of the first quarter. The Bucs led the rest of the game.
But it was tight — 14-6, 14-12, 21-12, 21-20, 28-20, 28-26, 35-26, 35-34, 41-34, 41-40 and finally 47-46.
The players from both teams who made plays all season continued to make them.
Haughton’s Brandon Craig scored on three 1-yard runs and one of 57. He caught touchdown passes of 9 and 10 yards from Taylor Weathersby .
He also had some other big receptions, including a 26-yard catch at Parkway 1.
Weathersby scored on a 14-yard run.
Donald Marshall had two big catches on Haughton’s final touchdown drive, including one for a first down on fourth-and-9 from the Parkway 15.
Burney caught touchdown passes of 26 and 18 yards. Tristan Sedberry had touchdown catches of 22 and 41 yards. Gabe Gray had TD catches of 13 and 58 yards. The latter got the Panthers within 41-40.
When Sewell reflected on the victory, he thought of his first two seasons as head coach when the Bucs won a total of five games.
“Football is hard,” he said. “We’re together for about 250 days a year and you work all year long and you play ten games, you know? So there’s a lot of delayed gratification in this game and for our guys, they’ve been through a lot.
“We didn’t have a great year last year. We didn’t have a great year the year before that. We didn’t have a great year the year before that. It’s been a while since we’ve had a really good year so for them to go through all the hard times they’ve gone through to get to the opportunity to be in the game they were in tonight and then for them to be able to pull through, I don’t know if I’ve ever been more happy for a group of people than I am for those seniors that have been there for us since day one, that just, man, they’ve just worked their tail off.
“I don’t know if that it validates the season. I don’t think that’s the right word. It just was really awesome for them to be able to have that moment. They’ve been working towards for so long.”
Weathersby completed 21-of-27 passes for 397 yards. He also rushed for 62 yards on 10 carries.
Craig rushed for 149 yards on 29 carries. He also had seven catches for 102 yards.
Case Corkern had four catches for 67 yards. CT Woodard had four for 56. Marshall had four for 49.
Central-Baton Rouge 55, Airline 28: The Vikings’ season came to an end in the first round of the non-select Division I playoffs Friday night at M.D. Ray Field at Airline Stadium.
Airline, the No. 15 seed, finished 7-4. Central (6-4), the No. 16 seed, visits No. 3 Barbe in the second round,
Airline stayed close for much of the game. The Vikings were down 28-31 in the second quarter and 31-21 at the half. The Wildcats pulled away in the second.
Airline senior quarterback Chase Williams ran for one touchdown and passed for another in the first half.
Airline has won at least seven games in each of Justin Scogin’s five years as head coach. The Vikings are 43-16 during that span.