ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / October 2, 1999

EDGARD – The amazing throwing arm of Rams’ quarterback Carl Gauthier faltered last night as West St. John High School fell to the NewmanGreenies 24-6.

The lopsided score didn’t really reflect the statistics of the game. TheGreenies had 312 total yards as compared to the Rams’ 208. Even thoughNewman won on rushing yardage, they only had 158 yards. Passing yardagewas very close between the teams with Newman gaining 154 yards in the air and the Rams passing for 145 yards.

What really killed West St. John was the number of penalties. The Ramsincurred 13 penalties in the game, including an offensive pass interference call that cost them a touchdown late in the second quarter.

The biggest surprise was Gauthier’s lack of accuracy.After last week’samazing performance of almost 300 yards and three touchdowns, Air Gauthier was grounded last night, connecting on only 11 of his 36 passes for 145 yards and one touchdown which came halfway through the second quarter. Most of the night, Gauthier was overthrowing his receivers.Newman won the coin toss and started to work on its own 40-yard line.

With a combination of passing and rushing, Greenie quarterback David de Laureal moved his team down field very effectively. Leading the rushingattack were running backs Phil Hoffman and Dwayne Jones. At the Rams’18-yard line, Hoffman ran it in for Newman’s first touchdown of the night, and the Greenies kicked the point after.

The Rams got off to a good start with their first possession, making a fast first down with the rushing of Devin Herbert, but two missed passes by Gauthier to Marlon Jackson and Brian Lumar forced West St. John topunt from its own 42. But a bad snap was fumbled by the kicker andNewman recovered with great field position at the Ram’s 49-yard line.

Five plays later, de Laureal was intercepted by defensive back Arlando Comminie.

But the Rams only managed to move the ball from their own 7-yard line to the 21 when Gauthier threw the first of three interceptions to Greenies’ defensive back Scott Stewart on the Rams’ 27-yard line.

Newman got the ball up to the Rams’ 1-yard line and was held twice by a stubborn Rams’ defense, and that was the end of the first quarter.

The very first play of the second quarter, Jones ran one yard for the second touchdown of the evening for Newman. The extra point made thescore 14-0.

On the next series of plays, West St. John struggled as Gauthier tried toconnect with his receivers and got sacked. The Rams punted, and on theGreenies’ first play from their 44-yard line, de Laureal was sacked by defensive end Marlon Jackson, who was doing double duty last night, also performing as a tight end on offense.

The Greenies punted, but West. St. John fell victim to several penaltiesand had to punt it back to Newman.

Newman couldn’t move the ball, and de Laureal was sacked by linebacker Dwayne Johnson. The Greenies kicked it back to the Rams and Gauthierfinally connected with Donriel Louis on a 36-yard pass for the first and only touchdown for West St. John. The Rams went for a two-pointconversion, but Louis missed Gauthier’s pass and the score was 14-6.

Newman began on its 19-yard line after the kickoff, and despite several blocked passes and a penalty managed to score another touchdown with a 28-yard pass to wide receiver Will Walter.

With only seconds left in the second quarter the Rams managed to connect on three passes to get down to the Greenies’ 38-yard line. Gauthier threwa 38-yard pass to Jeremy Lumar in the end zone, but the play was nullified by a offensive pass interference call 27 seconds before the end of the half. West St. John was pushed back to the 47-yard line, but Gauthier wasintercepted for the second time and the half ended 21-6.

The Rams came out swinging at the start of the second half, making two passes and two first downs, but a tripping penalty cost them yardage and they had to punt the ball away.

Newman went through a quick series and also punted. The Rams next serieswent through seven downs, but Gauthier could only connect on one pace.

They tried to go for it on fourth and 10 but had to give up the ball to the Greenies.

Newman kept the ball for over five minutes and moved down to the Rams’ 25-yard line. Again a stubborn defense kept Newman out of the end zoneand Newman place kicker Todd Rhoden booted a 32-yard field goal for the final points of the game with 2:56 left in the third quarter.

The fourth quarter was a battle of defenses as both teams ran up and down the field, neither being able to get into the end zone.

The only real suspense was with 56 seconds left and Newman on the Rams’ 40-yard line ran a fake punt but running back Jones was stopped on the 18 and then time ran out.

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