HOUMA – The Natchitoches Central football team nearly overcame the odds Friday night but ninth-seeded Terrebonne scored on a 8-yard reverse to claim a 27-24 overtime win in a first-round LHSAA Non-Select Division I playoff game.
The Chiefs, seeded 24th, finished with a 6-5 overall record. The Tigers moved on with an 8-3 mark.
In overtime, the Chiefs had the ball first and got a 24-yard Amsden Pasch field goal to lead 24-21. But the Tigers used trickery to prevail, running the end-around on second down to win.
The Chiefs scored on the game’s opening drive, going 71 yards for a 21-yard Owen Smith to K.J. Newton touchdown. The Tigers responded with an 80-yard march to tie it.
NCHS briefly fell behind 14-7 midway through the second quarter, but scored twice before halftime to go up 21-14. Kaden Kuykendall’s 4-yard TD run and a 22-yard Lemontrey Holden scoring reception of a Smith pass pushed the visitors on top. Jeremy Lowe’s interception halted a Terrebonne threat and triggered the go-ahead drive.
Terrebonne got a tying TD with 9:42 to go in the fourth quarter. The Chiefs nearly had a chance to win it at the end, but some dubious clock operation by game officials resulted in precious seconds running off and the game clock evaporated before Pasch and the kicking team was able to get off a 25-yard field goal that could have made the difference.
NCHS was hampered by the loss of star running back Kelton Howard to a first-quarter injury.
The outcome leaves St. Mary’s as the only local team still alive in the second round of the LHSAA postseason.