23-yard Joseph to Thomas touchdown ties; Howard conversion lifts WSJ to 16-14 win

By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

After fighting back from a 0-5 start this season to reach the state quarterfinals, the West St. John Rams knew that they could climb their way out of a hole.

They did it one more time on Friday night. This time, it leaves them one victory away from a trip to the Superdome.

Dray Joseph’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Raynard Thomas with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter and Romell Howard’s subsequent two-point conversion run proved to be the deciding points as host West St. John erased a 14-0 halftime deficit to defeat Kentwood 16-14 in their Class 1A quarterfinal game on Friday night.

West St. John (8-5) advances to the state semifinals, where it will face No. 8 seeded Ouachita Christian, who defeated No. 1 seed Cedar Creek 48-13 to advance in the quarterfinals.

The victory is the Rams’ eighth straight after the season’s 0-5 beginning.

“The big thing is, these kids and this staff didn’t lose confidence when we got behind,” said West St. John Coach Laury Dupont. “We were able to control the football after halftime. Romell Howard ran hard for us, the offensive line blocked real hard.

“Now, we’ve got one more leg to climb.”

Thomas’s touchdown reception capped an eight play, 57-yard drive that spanned 3:14. Trailing 14-8 and faced with a third and 12 on the Kentwood 23, Joseph faked the handoff and threw a fade route to Thomas, who out-leapt his defender in the left corner of the endzone and hauled in the catch.

“I was thinking that I have to catch this for the team,” Thomas said. “I’m just very, very happy right now.”

Said Dupont: “We always have the fade in there and we went with it on that play. It was a great catch on some good coverage.”

West St. John rushed for 212 yards on 44 carries, and in the second half a worn down Kentwood (9-4) front had no answer for the physical Ram gameplan. Leading all rushers was Howard, who tallied 130 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries, and repeatedly bullied through defenders for extra yardage.

“I just wanted to take my team to the Dome,” Howard said. “I’m just out there thinking about our hard work and dedication paying off. I never was going to give up on a play.”

Tyler Lewis rushed 10 times for 59 yards. Thomas finished with two catches for 32 yards.

Kentwood’s Greg Wesby ran in a 1-yard touchdown to begin the scoring at the 10:42 mark of the second quarter, putting Kentwood ahead 6-0.

Neither team was able to muster much of a drive until Kangaroo quarterback Bobby Earl found Tevin Goggins deep on third-and-16 for a 87 yard touchdown reception to make the score 12-0 with 1:50 remaining in the first half. A Earl pass to Wesby for a two-point conversion made it 14-0.

Mistakes plagued the Rams to begin the third quarter. A fumble set the Rams back on a third-and-11 in their first drive of the second half, leading to a punt. The next drive saw the Rams drive from their own 47 to the Kentwood 21, but a Joseph pass was deflected and intercepted to end the threat.

But after a Kentwood punt, West St. John took over and started making big gains on the ground. Howard ran for 48 yards on four carries and capped the drive with a touchdown with 1:18 left in the third quarter to make it 14-6. His two-point conversion run made it 14-8.

After West St. John went on to take the lead in the fourth quarter, Blake Comminie recovered a fumble to end a Kentwood threat at the 6:40 mark of the fourth quarter. But West St. John lost its own fumble at the 5:07 mark on the Kentwood ten-yard line. Kentwood drove to the West St. John 48-yard line, but got no further, as Earl’s pass on fourth and 14 fell short with 1:17 left in the game.

“Our defense believes that if they can hold a team to under three touchdowns, we have a great chance to win,” said Dupont. “We played a very good team, and the defense shut them out in the second half.”