Published: October 31, 2009 12:57 am      

Cards overcome 23-point deficit to beat Cats, 31-30, in OT

BRIDGE CITY — Talk about your instant classic.

The Bridge City Cardinals came from 23 points down in the second half to take down the Orangefield Bobcats in overtime on a gutsy call from Coach Cris Stump.

Bridge City quarterback Josh Lemoine scored on a 14-yard touchdown run after Orangefield went up 30-23 in the overtime period.

Stump made no hesitations going for two and the win on the legs of sophomore sensation Matt Menard.

Menard found the endzone for his second, pivotal two-point conversion of the night to give Bridge City a 31-30 win in the Bayou Bowl.

The win all but puts the Cardinals (6-3, 2-2) in the playoffs. To clinch the Cardinals must first worry about defeating Hamshire-Fannett (0-9, 0-4) next week. The Longhorns lost 48-7 to the Silsbee Tigers. The Bobcats are now 4-5 on the year and 1-3 in the District 21-3A standings and were eliminated from the playoff race with the loss.

“Words can’t describe this feeling,” Menard said after rushing for 153 yards on 29 carries. “It is the best feeling ever. Once I took the hand-off and saw the endzone, I knew the game was over. Orangefield is a great, great football team.” Menard will go into the year’s final game with 941 yards rushing on the season.

Orangefield took a 23-0 lead with 9:34 left in the third quarter when Rylan Cook scored from three yards out.

It was the opening drive of the second half after Orangefield dominated the first two quarters.

The Bobcats rushed for 160 yards in the first half and had 181 yards of offense compared to 81 yards for the Cardinals.

Bridge City went on a long drive on its first possession of the second half and it ended with a Menard two-yard touchdown run. Lemoine kept a two-point conversion try himself to make it 23-8.

Menard and Lemoine teamed up to keep the ball in one of their two hands most of the drive.

Menard had 29 yards on the drive while Lemoine had 25.

The Cardinals then got defensive as Dakota Risinger recovered an Orangefield fumble on a fourth down try.

Bridge City then went back to work on Menard’s legs as the Cardinals scored again, this time it was senior Luke Rhodes who hauled in an 11-yard touchdown pass from Lemoine.

Stump this time elected for the PAT and Devin Bertrand make it 23-15 with 7:40 left in the game.

Zach Heinze and the Cardinals’ defense stood tall again on the Bobcats’ next possession.

The Bobcats quickly picked up a first down on two plays and then turned the ball over on downs at the Cardinals’ 43-yard line.

Bridge City took over with 4:11 left in the game, needing eight points to tie.

Menard ran for 17 yards on the first play and three plays later busted loose for 26 more to bring Bridge City down to the Orangefield 14-yard line.

Menard capped the drive with a 15-yard touchdown run two plays later with 1:17 left on the clock.

The Cardinals were still down two and Stump knew what to do in handing the ball to Menard again who scored the two-point conversion to tie the game at 23-23.

Heinze came up huge for the Cardinals with 9 seconds left on the clock with a blocked field goal to force overtime.

“I can’t even explain it,” Heinze said. “We made a lot of adjustments after the first half and everyone came out angry in the second half. Orangefield runs a great offense and you never know who has the ball. I couldn’t even watch that two-point conversion. I had a towel over my head and listened to the crowd.”

Lemoine quickly knew after the game how special the overtime win was for him and his teammates.

“I will never forget this,” Lemoine said. “This is something we will talk about at our 20-year reunion. We had to go for two. Nobody has been able to stop Matt all year. I would rather go for the win. Coach said at half we were playing bad and reminded us of two weeks ago when we were down to Hardin-Jefferson at the half. We knew what we had to do.

“We could not have done this without our defense. Without those games, this game would not have ended like it did. Those defensive changes made all the difference.”

Stump knew the defense and the play of Lemoine and Menard were the difference.

“I told our guys we have been here before so go do it again,” Stump said. “We gave up the touchdown to start the second half and our guys said enough. Our coaches did a great job making adjustments. Now I have to see if I can get the UIL to give Matt and Josh a fifth year exemption. Matt just kept getting stronger and would not be denied. I felt at the end we did not want to get in a back-and-forth in overtime with those guys. I liked No. 12’s chances of getting in.”

The second half was much different for the Bobcats, especially after the first drive of the third quarter.

The Bobcats scored on their first drive of the night after driving 12 plays and 64 yards.

Quinton Evans, who had 112 yards on nine carries, finished the drive with a 26-yard touchdown run. Orangefield coach Brian Huckabay put the heat on the Cardinals by going for two. Corey Huckabay, who had 85 yards on 18 carries, scored on the two-point conversion to make it 8-0 with 2:07 left in the first quarter. Huckabay has 868 yards on the year.

The Cardinals turned back the Bobcats on their second drive of the night when Jacob Howard stuff Huckabay on a fourth down attempt.

Lemoine was then intercepted by Cole Durkin to set up the Bobcats’ next scoring drive.

It did not take Orangefield long either.

Four plays into the drive, Evans scored again from 37 yards out. Coach Huckabay rolled the dice again and went for two points.

He was right again as Evan Guidry cruised in for the two-point conversion to make it 16-0 with 1:05 left in the first half.

Lemoine was then intercepted again, this time by Kyle Fontenot.

The Cardinals answered right back as Evan Boren intercepted Corey Huckabay to end the first half.

Bridge City then forgot about the first half and the scoring drive from Orangefield in the third quarter to start its comeback.

“It feels so good to help turn this program around,” Heinze said. “We all started as sophomores and now as seniors set a tone for years to come. We got rid of the losing.”

Bridge City finished with 251 yards rushing on 46 carries while Orangefield had 268 yards on 50 totes.

Orangefield will finish the year with a home game against West Orange-Stark.





Bridge City 31

Orangefield 30



BC 0 0 8 15 8 — 31

OF 8 8 7 0 7 — 30



Scoring summary

Orangefield — Quinton Evans 26 run. Corey Huckabay run.

Orangefield — Evans 37 run. Evan Guidry run.

Orangefield — Rylan Cook 3 run. Derrick Evans kick.

Bridge City — Matt Menard 2 run. Josh Lemoine run.

Bridge City — Luke Rhodes 11 pass from Lemoine. Devin Bertrand kick.

Bridge City — Menard 15 run. Menard run.

Orangefield — Quinton Evans 8 run. Derrick Evans kick.

Bridge City — Lemoine 14 run. Menard run.





———

BC OF

First downs 17 20

Rushes-yards 46-251 50-268

Passing 29 21

Comp-Att-Int 4-10-2 1-3-1

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1

Penalties-Yards 7-53 0-0



———

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Bridge City, Matt Menard 29-153; Josh Lemoine 13-81, Cameron Dishon 4-17. Orangefield, Quinton Evans 9-112, Corey Huckabay 18-85, Evan Guidry 10-25, Derrick Evans 8-20, Josh Shores 2-15, Rylan Cook 5-11.

PASSING— Bridge City, Lemoine 4-10-2 29. Orangefield, Huckabay 1-3-1 21.

RECEIVING—Bridge City, Rhodes 2-15; Cale Hyde 2-14. Orangefield, Kyle Fontenot 1-21.