Slidell’s Tony Broussard tallied a goal and dished out an assist in the first 11 minutes of a match against Pope John Paul II that ended in a 2-2 tie Wednesday at PJP.

It was the opener for both teams.

It didn’t take Slidell long to score its first goal of the season.

Slidell'€™s Nathaniel Johnson (10) and Pope John Paul II'€™s Ryan Cadard (5) battle for the ball during Wednesday'€™s match held at PJP. Also pictured is PJP'€™s Andro Cutura (13). (Staff Photo by Chris Kinkaid)

Just three minutes in, Broussard made a pass to Taylor Erminger, who put the ball in the net to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

Slidell had a chance to go ahead 2-0, as Erminger took a shot that was saved by Jaguars’ goalkeeper Tommy Gritten.

In the 11th minute, Slidell took a 2-0 lead when Broussard took a pass from Robert Shepherd. Gritten came out, and Broussard got it by him and in the goal.

“It was a deflection off of someone that I just nailed right to the corner. It just went past the keeper (Gritten),” Broussard said. “I just saw that corner and went right for it.”

Slidell led 2-0 at the half, but PJP had a chance get on the board in the 16th minute when a player got 1-on-1 with freshman keeper James Dingman, who played well all night. Dingman came out and kicked the ball back into the field of play.

Slidell coach James Gibson said he was happy with the way Dingman performed.

“He’s a freshman goalkeeper. He came up big for us (Wednesday). He definitely didn’t play like a freshman,” Gibson said.

In the 32nd minute, Erminger took a shot, but it was saved.

In the second half, PJP had scoring chances and finally cashed in during the 65th minute. Andrew Morse took a shot and scored inside the right post, cutting Slidell’s lead down to 2-1.

In the 69th minute, the Jaguars attempted to tie the match on a direct kick by Jon Price that was wide.

But Pope John Paul II knotted the match at 2-2 when Price passed it to Morse, who sent the ball to Tyler Lusignan, and Lusignan tied the game.

“I had an angle on the defender, and it was a perfect pass from my teammate Andrew Morse. I was able to get it in the corner of the goal,” Lusignan said.

Pope John Paul II coach Jack Mills, who named Sidney Corwin as his top defender, said he was pleased with the way his team operated.

“We talked at halftime. We gave them their first two goals because we kept putting them onside,” Mills said. “They had four and five guys coming down and attacking the goal. We told them, ‘hold your position.’ In the second half, we held our position, and we put them offside. They had like five or six offside calls in the second half and none the first half.

Slidell’s Gibson, who named Jesse Stephens as his top defender, talked about his team’s play.

“Overall, being our first game, I think we came out the first half and played very well,” Gibson said. “Second half, I think we got a bit tired, got a bit loose in the backfield and left our middle open, which created gaps, let them drive the ball down and tie the score.”