Wolves' strong second half surges St. Paul'€™s past Slidell

St. Paul’s sophomore running back Stephon Smith carried the load Friday night, leading the Wolves to a 45-24 district victory over the Slidell Tigers at Hunter Stadium. St. Paul’s (5-1) upped its District 6-5A mark to 2-1, while Slidell (2-3) slipped to 1-2.

Smith found the end zone on runs of 10, 64 and 5 yards as he rushed for a game-high 147 yards on 15 carries.

“I give all the credit to my offensive line. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be able to get anything. I just tried to hit the hole quick,” Smith said.

Wolves’ sophomore running back Mikhail Washington contributed 44 yards on 10 carries with a 5-yard scoring jaunt to give St. Paul’s a solid one-two punch on the ground.

St. Paul’s sophomore quarterback Alec Duncan made the most of his second start, hitting on 6-of-13 passes for 145 yards. Duncan ran an efficient offense, only having one miscue throwing an interception with only 50 seconds left in the first half.

He tossed one TD pass, hooking up with Patrick Huval on a nifty 62-yard scoring toss with 5:58 left in the first quarter, to put the Wolves up 6-0. Jake Saltalamacchia booted the PAT. Duncan hit Huval in full stride down the middle as he beat one-on-one coverage for the score. Huval, the Wolves’ top deep threat, finished with three receptions for 120 yards.

Both defenses dominated play for the remainder of the opening quarter and deep into the second quarter. With 4:19 left in the first half, St. Paul’s took over at its 27. The Wolves generated four first downs, moving the ball 73 yards on five plays, and the drive culminated with Smith’s 10-yard tally. Saltalamacchia converted the PAT to make it 14-0.

Slidell got on the board with 10:54 left in the quarter. Senior quarterback Blake Forbis took his club on a 13-play drive, which ended on a Chris Barnes’ 40-yard field goal to trim the lead to 14-3.

Forbis, under a heavy pass rush the entire night from Wolves’ junior Houston Bates and his teammates, completed 18-of-35 passes for 222 yards with one interception. Forbis spread the ball around to his receivers. Zack Clark caught three passes for 37 yards, while Travis Markey caught three for 15 yards. Tyler Ziegler had two receptions for 42 yards, and Justin Dunn had two totaling 17 yards.

On the ensuing kick off following Barnes’ field goal, St. Paul’s Jermaine Sams was stripped of the ball during the return at the Wolves’ 18. Five plays later, Slidell’s Jaron Wiggins tallied on a 3-yard run with 9:09 left in the half. Barnes clicked on the PAT to make it 14-10.

Following the touchdown, Sams tried to redeem himself on the kick off following his earlier fumble. He electrified the St. Paul’s crowd, outrunning Slidell’s defenders for an apparent 99-yard return. But the play was nullified with SPS being flagged for an infraction.

The Wolves took over at the Tigers’ 42 with 8:56 left in the half.

Duncan engineered a 10-play drive with Washington darting over from the 5 with 3:44 left. Saltalamacchia kicked the point after for a 21-10 margin.

With only 50 seconds remaining in the half, Duncan was picked off by Chris Tranchina, giving the Tigers the ball at the Wolves 45. After a 4-yard gain, Forbis hooked up with Armand Williams on a 41-yard scoring strike. Williams hauled in a short pass and appeared to be hemmed in along the left sideline. He broke three tackles, motoring his way into the end zone with 24 seconds left. Following a St. Paul’s off sides on the extra point attempt, Slidell decided to go for a two-point conversion. Wiggins was successful to cut St. Paul’s lead to 21-18 at the half.

Slidell’s Williams turned in an outstanding effort, hauling in eight catches for 111 yards. He also had a 15-yard receiving TD.

St. Paul’s scored on its first possession of the second half with Smith doing the honors, busting off tackle for a 64-yard TD. Smith appeared to be stopped, but ran out of the grasp of a couple Slidell tacklers, taking the ball in at the 10:45 mark. Following Saltalamacchia’s PAT, St. Paul’s led 28-18.

Smith added another score on a 5-yard run with 2:59 left in the third quarter to give the Wolves a 35-18 advantage following Saltalamacchia’s PAT.

Forbis answered with a 15-yard scoring strike to Williams with 8:01 left in the game. The two-point conversion was no good with the Tigers trailing, 35-24.

St. Paul’s Saltalamacchia banged home a 40-yard field goal with 3:56 to play. St. Paul’s Greg Blasiar intercepted a pass at the Slidell 42-yard line and returned the ball down to the Tigers’ 3 before being pushed out of bounds.

Duncan finished off the scoring, sneaking in from there. Saltalamacchia’s final point was good.

Blasier, one of the Wolves’ leading tacklers, said it was a big win.

“Our offense did really well, scoring a lot of points. I was really proud of them. The defense stepped up strong in the second half. It was a good team win overall,” said the senior defensive back.

This week, Slidell hosts Ponchatoula, while St. Paul’s travels to Northshore.