St. Charles Catholic rallies, holds off Lutcher in 21-20 thriller

Lutcher has a long, proud, championship tradition on the gridiron. The Bulldogs have eight state titles, the most recent coming in 2016.

While the last couple of seasons haven’t been as stellar, Lutcher is very good in 2022 and is poised to make noise in the state playoffs.

For much of the way Friday night, it appeared that the Bulldogs were on their way to a signature win in LaPlace.

Then, defending Division III St. Charles Catholic, with a pair of state titles of its own, showed its championship pedigree, rallying for a 21-20 victory in an absolute thriller than went down to the final play.

Lutcher started very well.

Quarterback D’Wanye Winfield scored on runs of 18 and 4 yards to give Lutcher a 14-0 first half lead.

The Comets responded as quarterback Ayden Authement scored on a 9-yard run to make it 14-7 by halftime.

St. Charles then got the equalizer on a 48-yard touchdown pass from Authement to Davon Sturgis to make it 14-14.

In the fourth quarter, the Comets took their first lead on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Authement to Daniel Joseph to make it 21-14.

Lutcher was not done.

Winfield then engineered a drive and he finished it with a 17-yard run to make it 21-20 but the extra point failed, leaving the Comets on top.

With the clock running down in the final minute, St. Charles Catholic tried to ice the game on fourth down, but Authement came up less than a yard short of a first down at the Lutcher 9-yard line.

That left time for one play for the Bulldogs with just seven seconds left … and what a play it was.

Winfield heaved a deep ball to Tylin Johnson, who somehow got behind the secondary and Johnson appeared headed for an incredible, game-winning score.

Instead, Michael Hotard made an incredible play with an incredible effort, running down Johnson and making a diving tackle at the St. Charles Catholic 3-yard line on the final play of the game to secure an emotional, hard-fought victory.

St. Charles Catholic coach Wayne Stein talked about the big win on Ken Trahan’s Original Prep Football Report on NASH ICON 106.1 FM Friday night.

“It was just an unbelievable effort by our kids,” Stein said. “I really feel sorry that someone had to lose as both teams played their guts out. Their quarterback (Winfield) is one of the best players I’ve ever seen. Michael Hotard is just a winner. He’s the ultimate Comet, runs the guy down at the 3-yard line to win the game.”

How did the Comets turn things around after being down two scores?

“Our offense took the game over,” Stein said. “I thought we played about as bad as we can play in the first half. Lutcher dominated the half but we were only down 14-7. I told the guys at halftime that Lutcher just dominated us and we’re only down seven. We made a big stop. We got two stops and got two scores.”

Stein waxed philosophical to his team about their halftime position.

“At halftime, I kind of saw some shakiness like ‘oh, man, we haven’t lost in so long,’” said Stein, who is 13-0 since taking over as head coach for Frank Monica prior to last season. “I told them that if we lose, we’re still coming to practice tomorrow. What’s the worst thing that could happen? A lot of those guys had never lost. I don’t know if me saying that loosened them up but I think winners win. Michael found a way for us to win.”

The two River Parish rivals were meeting for the first time since 2019 and it was worth the wait.

“It (Hotard’s stop) will go down as one of the biggest plays in St. Charles history,” Stein said. “I’m just proud of our kids.”

Both teams are back in action next Friday night. St. Charles Catholic (2-0) will travel to Teurlings Catholic while Lutcher (1-1) will host Helen Cox.