The LRHS Varsity Football team visited Broughton High School on Thursday, Oct. 1, and left with the proud knowledge that they had thoroughly spoiled the Caps’ Homecoming game with a final score of 36-28.
In the first quarter, Josh Stanley, quarterback, found Austin Berrios for a 15-yard passing TD, after which he shot two additional touchdowns to Braxton (18 yards) and Austin (69 yards) Berrios. Thanks to these, the halftime score was heavily in the Pride’s favor, 21-3, despite an injury to starting OT Bryan Ball two plays into the game.
However, halftime seemed to bring a new energy to the Broughton offense, which marched down the field for its first touchdown, a pass to Thomas Brown from Sherod Cooper, Capitals quarterback.
Though the burst of power was quelled temporarily by Leesville’s D.J. Hunt running for a 5-yard TD, Broughton’s offense pushed downfield multiple times during the second half, repeatedly attempting plays even on fourth down – and on most of these hard-fought drives, the Pride defense managed to hold off the men in purple, handling the Caps in a goal-line stand.
The Capitals, however, were clearly not about to head home yet. The next offensive play for the Pride resulted in a Capital’s safety.
Even after another D.J. Hunt TD run (plus an Austin Berrios 2-pt conversion), Broughton was unrelenting and unwilling to give in. Cooper lofted another long touchdown pass, this time to Juston Burris, and added a 2-pt conversion, pushing the score to 36-20.
The pressure to perform that the Pride put on Broughton was immense: after the final Leesville touchdown of the night, fireworks were launched in celebration, an anomaly for an away game, and a distinct slap in the face to the purple-clad Homecoming crowd. The Broughton defense stopped the Pride with enough time to score once again.
After the second Cooper touchdown pass to Brown, followed by yet another 2-pt conversion, Leesville’s lead had been sliced to a mere eight points – enough for one last scoring drive by the Caps to throw the match into overtime.
The ensuing onside kick by Broughton failed, though, and the Pride assumed the victory formation to bring their record to 6-1 (2-0 Cap 8), and to deflate the Caps’ record to 3-3 (1-1 Cap 8) – a disappointment to the Broughton fans, who had witnessed an upset victory last week against Millbrook High.
As the smoke of the Pride’s fireworks finally settled over the purple stands, it was evident that a similar shroud was cast over the Capitals’ hopes and aspirations in the Cap 8, as well as their much gloomier Homecoming.
