Archbishop Hannan came up a yard short and a few seconds shy as North Central held on to its only win of the season, 26-24, in both team’s regular season finale Friday night at Tornado Alley on the campus of Hammond High.

With 15 seconds left in regulation and the Hawks down near the goal line, Hannan used its final timeout to plot its strategy. Senior Andrew Arceneaux tried to get over the plane of the goal but the Hurricanes stiff defense stood him up and by the time the field goal unit got on the field and lined up for the kick the horn sounded to end the contest.

“We just felt like our bigs could get enough push against theirs to get that yard and the win,” said Hannan third-year coach George Templet. “We practice that scenario everyday, so I felt like we had enough time to get the kicker on the field to make the kick, but time wasn’t on our side tonight.” After the horn sounded the two teams shook hands before some tempers flared and law enforcement cleared the field.

The win the first on the season for the Hurricanes, which hail from LeBeau in St. Landry Parish, finish the year 1-9 while Hannan concludes its season at 2-8 after this non-district matchup.

“It feels good to get a win because we started strong but almost let this one get away from us,” said John Johnson, a former McDonough 35 coach who was displaced by a hurricane, Katrina, and ironically winds up in southwest Louisiana as a head coach of a team nicknamed the Hurricanes.

North Central started its first possession from the Hawks’ 20-yard line as Hannan senior wide receiver and punter Ben Condon had trouble handling a low snap and was forced to attempt a run for the first down, which wasn’t successful.

From there the Hurricanes needed just four plays and junior quarterback and captain Jamal Doucet scored on a one-yard run to put North Central on the scoreboard less than three minutes into the opening quarter.

Two minutes later North Central upped its lead to 14-0 as Doucet hooked up with wide out Jerome Wilson on a 60-yard catch and run, and with Jeremy Rose’s two-point run the visitors were on top, 14-0.

On the Hawks next possession eighth grade quarterback Korey Zeigler coughed up the ball, which the Canes recovered at the Hannan 35-yard line.

Doucet would give the ball right back as Roger Tomberlin intercepted his first of two picks giving his offensive teammates another shot. This opportunity was squandered when Wilson now on defense intercepted Zeigler and returned the pick down to the five-yard line where Rose needed just one carry to put his Canes up 20-0 with four minutes remaining in the first period.

Hannan answered the Hurricanes launching a seven-play 72-yard drive capped off by Arceneaux taking the direct snap and throwing a jump pass to Logan Booksh from three-yards away to put the Hawks on the board. Junior David DeHarde booted the extra point and the quarter ended with the Canes leading 20-7.

The Hurricanes seemed to self-destruct after the first stanza racking up 12 penalties for 100 negative yards and didn’t manage another score in the first half.

DeHarde kicked a 39-yard field goal just seconds before the half to pull the home team to within, 20-10 at the intermission.

The Hawks attempted an unsuccessful onside kick to start the second half giving the ball to North Central at midfield. From this point it took six plays and almost three minutes before the Hurricanes increased their lead, to 26-10, as Doucet connected with Wilson again, this time on a 17-yard strike good for six.

Zeigler would close the gap to 26-16 on a three-yard quarterback keeper as the Hawks stopped Doucet on fourth- and-long in punt formation from picking up the first down giving the possession to Hannan at the 18. Stuart Seiler added the two-point conversion on a run and the Hurricanes once 16-point lead was down to just a touchdown and a two-point conversion, 26-18.

Hannan closed the deficit to just two, two plays into the final frame as Zeigler and Condon teamed up on a fade pattern from 20-yards out but couldn’t convert on the attempted two-point pass attempt and trailed 26-24 with a whole quarter of football left.

The Hawks would get a chance to win the contest with just over a minute remaining taking over the ball at the Canes’ 22-yard line following a crucial defensive series forcing the Hurricanes to attempt to punt but the rush prevented the punt causing Doucet to run for the first down which he didn’t succeed in doing.

Arceneaux would carry the pigskin four of the five plays but with seconds ticking away was stopped on third-and- goal and the horn sounded on the game and on Hannan’s season.