By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

 

EDGARD — The very first play of West St. John’s season was a flea-flicker in its jamboree win over Riverside.

The Rams waited until a big spot to unleash it again — and again.

West St. John executed not one but two variations of the trick play to spark its offense Friday night as it rode a wave of second-half momentum to a 41-22 victory at home over White Castle.

Both teams entered the game undefeated in District 9-1A play and understood that the victor would be heavily favored to go on to earn the district’s championship.

“This is a big win,” said Jackson. “This type of win lets us know that we can do it (make a run). No matter what we face, it’s not going to be too hard for us.”

The Rams (4-3, 3-0) rallied from an early 10-0 deficit, wearing down and outscoring White Castle 29-12 in the second half behind a hurry-up offense and its stable of talented running backs, led by Kylum Favorite and Jeremy Jackson — Favorite scored three times with Jackson adding another score.

“We challenged them at halftime to be the more physical team,” said West St. John coach Robert Valdez. “They’re very fast. We wanted to run the ball and push the tempo … the plan was to try to wear them down. That’s what we generally want to do. Our kids are in excellent condition and we want to use that to our advantage.”

White Castle’s Daryl Young scored two long touchdowns for White Castle (6-2, 2-1). The first went for 66 yards, combining with a Dontrell Taylor two-point run and a safety off of a blocked punt to build a 10-0 second quarter lead.

The second came with 6:45 left in the third quarter, a 75-yard run that saw Young slash up the middle and give his team a 16-12 advantage. The run came right after a key Chris Major run to convert a third down; The two-point run failed.

The Rams answered on their next drive, calling on the flea-flicker for the second time in the game; the ball went to two different Rams before being pitched back to quarterback Austin Howard, who launched a pass down the sideline to an open Jackson for a 34-yard gain down to the White Castle 8. Two Jackson runs later, he was in the endzone on a 6-yard score. He’d punch it in one more time to make it a 20-16 WSJ lead with 3:04 left.

“We saw that they were so concerned with the runner on our sweep package … We felt like it would give us an opening,” said Valdez. “I think it’s the first time we’ve run it since the jamboree, but we practice it every week.”

Jackson also hauled in the reception on a first-half flea flicker, a 28-yard play that set up Favorite’s first touchdown of the night.

He also caught the touchdown on the jamboree flicker.

“Our coaches put us in position to make a great play,” said Jackson. “They saw a crease and chose to call it there, and we made it work.”

White Castle converted a fourth down on its next drive, which reached the 50. But the Rams forced a fumble and Damond Pierce recovered on the first play of the fourth quarter.

The Rams needed just one play on its ensuing drive, as Howard took a deep shot down the field to Laffarin Stripe, who scored on a 59-yard play to make it 26-16 with 11:25 left in the game. A Jackson 2-point run made it 28-16.

The Bulldogs’ next drive ended almost before it began due to penalties, and the Rams’ forced a three-and-out. West St. John marched 65 yards in just four plays, Favorite scoring on a 29-yard run to all but put things away.

Favorite scored both first half touchdowns for WSJ, the second set up by an impressive catch and run by Keith Miller for 45 yards.

Bradley Borne rounded out the Rams’ scoring with a 1-yard touchdown.

The winner of the West St. John/White Castle game has reached the Superdome in each of the last two seasons.

“This is big,” said Valdez. “That is a good football team. This district usually represents itself well in the playoffs. The winner of this game usually causes some trouble for the other postseason teams.

“I wouldn’t want to see them again down the road. They can do some damage … but tonight’s win was a critical one. It puts us in a really good position in our district.”