Kaplan eliminated from playoffs

KAPLAN – The No. 8 Kaplan Pirates football season came to an abrupt halt Friday night as they lost in the second round of the 2024 Division III Non-Select playoffs to the No. 9 Pine Raiders 21-6 at Ed Douglas Memorial Stadium.
Kaplan (8-3) had no answer for Pine wider receiver DJ Garrett. The senior caught seven passes for 182 yards and two touchdowns.
Pirates’ head coach Stephen Lotief gave credit to Pine for their execution, but it just wasn’t Kaplan’s night.
“He’s a good player,” Lotief said. “They threw it up to him and he did his job. The quarterback threw it well. Their line protected well. They were better than us tonight.
“We didn’t play hard enough. We didn’t play with enough energy. If we played the whole game like we came out in the second half, we might have had a chance.”
Garrett first made his presence known at the 4:44 mark of the first quarter when he caught a 35-yard pass from quarterback Trey Knight down to the Kaplan one-yard-line. Knight dove across the goal line to give Pine the 7-0 lead with 3:13 remaining in the opening frame.
The score remained 7-0 until late in the first half. Kaplan senior defensive end Remy Broussard sacked Knight on fourth down to give the Pirates first-and-ten at their own 38-yard line.
Kaplan then fumbled the football, and the Raiders recovered, giving them the ball back in Pirates’ territory. On the second play of the ensuing drive, Knight found Garrett from 30-yards out for the touchdown and the 14-0 lead with 1:01 remaining before halftime.
Garrett struck again early in the fourth quarter. This time Knight found him from 29-yards out for another touchdown and a 21-0 lead with 11:51 left in the contest.
Kaplan finally found the end zone with nine seconds left on the clock when Bradyn Bearb ran it in from 14-yards out to provide the final margin.
Bearb finished with 28 yards rushing and the touchdown on six carries. Wyatt Hebert had a game-high 73 yards on 19 carries while Daylon Landry was right behind with 70 yards on 16 carries.
Sabe David completed four passes on 15 attempts for 34 yards with three interceptions. Jacob Devoltz caught two passes for 25 yards while Landry caught two balls for nine yards.
The Pirates are disappointed their season is over, but Lotief is proud of what they accomplished this year.
“Too bad, too sad,” Lotief said. “It’s a football game. Bounce back and work harder. That’s life.
“It’s better to set your goals high and not reach them than to set them low and reach them. We won a playoff game. We aspired to go further, but we had injuries, we had this and that, and we didn’t play well. It happens.”