De La Salle stages dramatic second half rally to overcome Holy Cross

There were two different games played at Tad Gormley Stadium Friday night between De La Salle and Holy Cross.

First, there was the first half that Holy Cross completely dominated and appeared on the way to an impressive, convincing victory.

Then, there was the second half that De La Salle completely dominated on the way to an impressive 28-22 come-from-behind victory over the Tigers.

P.J. Martin rushed 28 times for 292 yards and touchdown runs of 67 and 68 yards, respectively, with all of those yards and both scores coming in the second half. Martin added a reception for 12 yards.

That came after a disastrous first half for the Cavaliers as Holy Cross dominated in all phases to race out to a 22-0 lead at the break.

Then, lightning struck in the literal and figurative sense.

A 30-minute lightning delay prolonged the halftime break.

Then, a different De La Salle team emerged from the locker room and dominated the line of scrimmage in the second half as the Cavaliers scored on four long drives to overcome the deficit and shock Holy Cross.

Banks scored on an 8-yard run while Jeramiah Wills added a 7-yard touchdown for the Cavaliers in the second half rally.

Montaz Randall had an interception for De La Salle.

Holy Cross was superb in the first half, jumping out quickly to a 2-0 lead on a safety, resulting from a bad snap over the head of the punter on the opening series of the game.

Cole Canatella connected with speedy wide receiver Krosse Johnson on touchdown passes of 61 and 23 yards while Canatella scored on a 1-yard run to build the 22-0 lead.

Speaking on the Three Tailgaters Show on NASH ICON 106.1 FM Saturday morning, De La Salle head coach Graham Jarrott explained what changed at halftime.

“The kids calmed down at the half,” Jarrott said. “This is what I wanted to do with the schedule is to put the kids in this kind of environment. The extra time at halftime got us to relax. The game of momentum is very big in high school football. Our kids got our confidence back. We started playing De La Salle football.”

Jarrott continues to heap praise on Martin.

“PJ is one of my favorite kids I’ve ever coached,” Jarrott said. “To have three senior starters and a tight end who is a senior starter makes a difference. There were a couple of big plays where he made the plays on his own. He even played safety late in the game for us.”

De La Salle rushed for 346 yards while Keidrick Richardson had 13 tackles for the Cavaliers.

De La Salle (2-0) will host another Division I team in St. Paul’s next Friday night at Yulman Stadium in a game that you can watch live on Crescent City Sports.

Holy Cross (1-1) will entertain Chalmette next Saturday at 1 p.m. at Tad Gormley Stadium.

“These are the games that I want our team to be in,” Jarrott said. “I prefer we don’t start the game so poorly. We need to eliminate nerves. These are the games you want to be in.”