Feature Photograph: OC WR Dontre Henry splits the defenders for a touchdown. (Photograph by Mike Curley)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
It appeared Opelousas Catholic had a brief chance in the third quarter Friday night to reach a playoff pinnacle the Vikings’ football program had been unable to achieve since 2005.
The Vikings took the initial second-half offensive possession, moved downfield quickly and then cut an Ascension Catholic one-touchdown lead to two points after quarterback Mark Collins completed an 11-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Dontre Henry.
Then the OCS road to the Division IV-select semifinals took a sharp detour and began to collapse.
Inopportune turnovers afterward began to erupt and crucially-affect the Vikings whose 2022 season ended with a 28-12 defeat in the quarterfinal contest and rematch with Ascension Catholic, which advances to play third-seeded Ouachita Christian.
OCS head football coach Thomas David said his team (9-4) put the ball back into the hands of the Ascension Catholic offense too many times in the second half.
“We managed to turn it over too much. It’s always going to be tough to win when you do that,” David said on Saturday.
Overall the Vikings lost two fumbles and the Bulldogs had three interceptions.
The loss to Ascension Catholic (11-2) was the second one for the Vikings, who were defeated in Donaldsonville (34-32) on Sept. 9.
Following the Vikings’ final touchdown of the game with 7:13 remaining in the third period, OCS relinquished possession on a fumble that led to a quick, 25-yard Ascension Catholic score in addition to the three Collins’ interceptions spread over the game’s last 18 minutes.
The second-half interceptions interrupted OCS possessions that also included failure to convert on separate third and fourth down situations.
Late in the second quarter the Vikings committed another costly mistake as a fumble at the Bulldogs’ 11-yard line with 1:19 remaining denied OCS a chance at pulling closer to Ascension Catholic which had established a 13-6 advantage on a Bryce Leonard to Trent Landry touchdown throw.
“That play ended a good drive for us, since we appeared to be going in. That turnover and a couple of others that we had at different points managed to really put us behind the eight-ball,” said David.
Leonard, who entered the game as the leading passer in Ascension Catholic football program history, threw for two touchdowns in the first half and then ran for a pair of TD’s during the final two periods.
David said Leonard seemed to have improved as a runner compared to the first game the teams played in September.
“Ascension Catholic I thought really didn’t do much of anything differently than when we saw them earlier. However I thought (Leonard) seemed to improve as a runner as the season went on,” David said.
Offensively David said the Vikings’ game plan was to control the game clock with the running game that proved effect during the entire first quarter and the early moments of the second.
OCS limited the Bulldogs to 11 offensive snaps in the first period and then devoured much of the second quarter with a 57-yard, 13-play possession that ended with Collins’ four-yard run (6:28) and a 6-0 lead.
Whatever momentum the Vikings had achieved up to that point dissipated just over a minute later as Leonard threw a 51-yard touchdown to his brother, Brooks Leonard. An extra point conversion enabled the Bulldogs to create a 7-6 advantage.
Another missed coverage in the secondary, enabled Leonard on the next possession to throw another 51-yard pass to tight end Trent Landry, giving the Bulldogs a 14-6 advantage with 5:21 left before the intermission.
“We had a couple of coverage problems in the second (during the first half). We let a guy get behind us and they were able to turn those into a couple of big plays,” David said.
The Vikings’ third quarter fumble at the OCS 25 was quickly turned into another touchdown as Bryce Leonard ran into the end zone with 4:42 left in the third.
OCS failed to convert a fourth down at the Vikings’ 14 with nearly four minutes remaining and Leonard scored again from that point on a one-play drive.
David said he thought the Vikings’ season was successful overall.
“Anytime you can get to the quarterfinals I think you can say that you’ve had a good year. What I liked about this team is after (a 1-3 start) we continued to get better as the year moved forward and put together eight straight wins,” said David.
