Brother Martin weathers slow start, makes big rally past Woodlawn

NEW ORLEANS – Eight minutes into Friday night’s Division I select first-round matchup at Tad Gormley Stadium, it looked like Woodlawn was poised to start making plans for a second consecutive trip to City Park next week.

But high school football games are 48 minutes.

Brother Martin rallied from a three-touchdown deficit by scoring the next 45 points, blanking the Panthers the rest of the way in a 45-20 victory.

The No. 13 seed Crusaders (6-5) will meet fourth-seeded St. Augustine at Gormley next Friday in a rematch of a 14-13 Purple Knights victory in Week 10. St. Augustine had an opening-round bye in the new 24-team select brackets.

Torey Lambert rushed for 264 yards and three touchdowns, Clayton Lonardo had 115 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns (one rushing and one receiving), while the defense and special teams contributed big plays, including a fumble return for a touchdown by defensive lineman Nathan Malek.

In spite of the start, Brother Martin coach Mark Bonis called it his team’s most complete performance.

“Our young guys on offense, you can see in their eyes that they believed we could (come back) play by play,” said Bonis. “Our guys were resilient in the face of adversity.”

The 45 points were a season high for the Crusaders.

“Our defense has played well all year,” Bonis said. “You’ve got to be good in all three phases. Offensively, we were efficient when we needed to be.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak in which the Crusaders lost by a combined 13 points.

“You want to be playing your best football at the end of the season,” said Bonis. “We’re going to play the … toughest schedule we can play. You want to have a lot of success in the regular season, but what really matters is (the postseason).”

LSU commitment Rickie Collins guided No. 20 seed Woodlawn (4-7) to its fast start – accounting for all three touchdowns on two passes and a quarterback draw – before the Crusader defense started to make stops.

“Some of the things we did tonight were new,” Bonis said. “(Collins) is a heck of a player. Our defense battled. I can’t say enough about those guys.”

In an era filled with countless playoff rematches, amazingly, Brother Martin and St. Augustine will only meet for the second time in the postseason next Friday. The other happened more than a half-century ago – the 1971 Class 4A state championship game, also at Gormley, won by the Crusaders 23-0.

“Right now, we’re just going to enjoy the win,” Bonis said.