North Vermilion wins in two overtimes

The North Vermilion Patriots built a lot of confidence in the final game of the regular season with a tough battle against Teurlings Catholic, enough so that they felt they had a legitimate shot at beating 10th-seeded Franklin Parish in the first round of the playoffs.
That confidence was warranted as the Patriots upset Franklin Parish 35-28 in double overtime to advance to a second-round Division II non-select playoff game at home this week against No. 7 seed Church Point.
“I just think it was where our kids were after the Teurlings game,” NVHS head coach Brett Blakey said of his team’s confidence. “Even though it was 49-21, I thought we moved the ball well on Teurlings for most of the night.
“The confidence we gained in just being able to weather the storm of the district schedule (playing four top five teams in five games), I think our kids learned a lot about themselves and who they can be when competing. I think ultimately, at the end of the day, that district prepared us for this.”
North Vermilion rallied from a 21-13 deficit with a touchdown and 2-pointer late, then matched Franklin Parish in the first overtime before Kiaron Rudd scored on the first play of the second OT, and the Patriots kicked the PAT for a 35-28 lead. To preserve the win, North Vermilion’s Myles Johnson batted down a fourth down pass on Franklin Parish’s possession.
“It was a heck of a game,” Blakey said during a phone call on the 3-1/2 hour bus trip back from North Louisiana. “We didn’t play very many kids, so our kids that do play, play hard. It’s a quiet bus. The kids were pumped after the game, though. It’s exciting for our program to be able to host a second-round playoff game. It doesn’t happen very often at our place. It’s something hopefully we can build upon.”
Blakey said that for one of the few times in his career, one of his teams had to play in a game where it rained the entire time.
That had an effect as Franklin Parish fumbled the opening kickoff, which North Vermilion recovered to set up a TD by Tucker Denais. NVHS kicked the ball back to Franklin Parish, which again fumbled the ball away, and North Vermilion recovered to set up a second Denais touchdown for a 13-0 North Vermilion lead with four minutes left in the first period.
Franklin Parish answered with a touchdown and was inside the NV 20 when a rain delay helped the Patriots recover defensively and force a field goal. North Vermilion led 13-10 at halftime.
A touchdown and 2-point conversion, and a field goal, pushed Franklin Parish ahead 21-13. FPHS had a chance to extend its lead, but Kiaron Rudd created a turnover when he took the ball away from a Franklin Parish ball carrier to give North Vermilion some life.
Grant Wise scored the TD to pull North Vermilion to within 21-19, and Jag Broussard passed to Landon Duhon for the tying 2-point conversion to send the game to overtime.
Franklin Parish scored on its initial possession of overtime, and North Vermilion scored and successfully went for 2, but a holding call negated the point-after, so NVHS kicked the extra point to send the game to a second overtime.
Blakey said that despite the rain that fell throughout the game, Franklin Parish threw the ball exceptionally well.
“They had to have two touchdown passes over 60 yards,” Blakey said. “At times, it did hinder them, but they hit us with two hitch-and-go’s. It was very difficult for them to run the ball. Our run defense did a good job.”