St. Paul’s tremendous 2009 football campaign came to a screeching halt Friday night as the Wolves couldn’t keep pace with the Thibodaux Tigers falling 27-17 on the road in the regional round.

St. Paul’s (10-2), the No. 7 seed, came up short, losing to Thibodaux, the No. 23 seed, for the second consecutive season failing to gain revenge from last year’s heart-breaking defeat. Thibodaux also knocked the Wolves out of the playoffs last season 25-22 on a last second field goal.

Thibodaux (8-4) advances to the quarterfinals traveling to West Monroe, the No. 2 seed.

St. Paul’s senior defensive end Houston Bates, on top, and junior middle linebacker Tyler Tourelle team up to sack Thibodaux quarterback Trovon Reed “The Ghost” during the third quarter of the Wolves’ 27-17 regional round loss to the Tigers. (Photo by Joey Michel)

This time around, St. Paul’s took a 3-0 lead on Jake Saltalamacchia’s 42-yard field goal with 6:13 left in the first period. The Wolves’ defense didn’t have an answer for Thibodaux senior quarterback Trovon Reed, who has a verbal commitment to Auburn University as a wide receiver. He was the difference maker for the Tigers clad in their purple and gold. Reed rushed for two touchdowns and a team high 57 yards on 11 carries, while clicking on 7-of-10 passes for 181 yards.

Reed frustrated the Wolves’ defense throughout the night making defenders who appeared to have angles on him miss time and time again. His elusiveness led to two sevenyard scoring runs after he was able to slip out of tackles on his way to the end zone.

“I felt like we have practiced hard and we earned the victory. I just go with what God gave me. He gives some people strength and some people vision. He gave me vision. I see it and just try to make the play,” Reed said.

“St. Paul’s played a great game. They fought to the very end. I think that is the best team we have played so far. They never quit. They were down by 10 points and their defense was still getting it up. I would take those guys on my team any day. Anyone of them,” Reed added.

Reed had an excellent supporting cast with junior running back Joshua Johnson gaining 38 yards on 15 carries. Senior fullback Brandon Duncan contributed 21 tough yards inside on eight carries including a three-yard TD run with 9:13 left in the fourth quarter to put the Tigers up 27-17 to seal the victory.

Thibodaux head coach Dennis Lorio said it was a tremendous victory and talked about the play of his quarterback and how he makes his teammates play with confidence.

“Trovon has special skills. St. Paul’s probably controlled the line of scrimmage better than we did, but by plugging it up as much as they did, there were some opportunities on the edge and you have to give Trovon credit. We blocked and he scrambled,” Lorio said.

Lorio said he was extremely impressed with his defense.

“Our defense was well- schooled and they played their hearts out. St. Paul’s is a heck of a football team. My hat is off to coach Sears. They have a first class team with a terrific offense. I loved the way their fans cheered for their kids at the end of the game. That shows they have a first class program. My heart goes out to their seniors. They have some terrific kids,” Lorio added.

Lorio said he has a lot of young kids that have stepped up and played well.

St. Paul’s head coach Ken Sears said his club just couldn’t get a glove on Reed.

“There were times that we just couldn’t get a handle on him (Reed) and wrap him up. He is elusive and is a special player. He is the real deal and our guys had trouble tackling him. He gave us fits all night. He was the biggest factor in them keeping their momentum and us not getting any type of momentum shift,” Sears said.

“Thibodaux played a great game. We can’t turn the ball over late in the game. We made our mistakes and we just didn’t play well defensively. We made our mistakes both ways on offense and defense,” Sears added.

Sears said his club was never able to get a game changing play or a turnover, something to give them some momentum.

“We were counting on one more shift of momentum to go our way and it never did happen. They kept the momentum the whole second half,” Sears said.

Tigers’ junior running back Terry Ausama electrified the home crowd, scampering 73 yards on a shovel pass from Reed on the opening drive of the second half. Ausama’s run took the wind out of the St. Paul’s defense. Senior kicker Drew Williamson, who kicked last year’s winning field goal, tacked on the extra point, which gave the Tigers a 20-10 lead with 10:18 left in the third quarter.

St. Paul’s countered with a nicely executed eight play, 78-yard drive to get back in it. Wolves’ junior running back Stephon Smith, who finished with 119 yards on 13 carries and two scores, rushed the ball five times for 42 yards on the drive. Smith capped it off with a one-yard run off left tackle following strong blocking. Smith’s touchdown and Saltalamacchia’s extra point cut the lead to 20-17 with 5:49 left in the third quarter. The key drive took 4:36 off the clock with the Wolves’ offensive line doing a solid job opening holes to get St. Paul’s back in the game.

Smith, who led the Wolves with 981 yards rushing on the season, talked about the tough loss.

“Their quarterback (Reed) is the number one recruit in the state. There was nothing we could really do about trying to stop him. Our offense tried really hard. We ran the ball well, but things didn’t work out for us,” Smith said.

Smith said Thibodaux is a tough place to play at.”

Wolves’ senior end Houston Bates, a verbal commitment to LSU, talked about the athleticism of Thibodaux’s signal caller Reed being the best athlete he has faced.

“He was like a ghost. He’s invincible. I tried my best, but I just couldn’t seem to wrap him up. I have never seen a guy that elusive in my life,” Bates said.

“I wouldn’t trade my career at St. Paul’s for anything. We are brothers and the camaraderie of everybody and helping lead this team to a district championship and being one of the top teams in the state you can’t hang your head,” Bates added.

“I don’t want to have regrets, but its hard not to with the situation being what it is now that we are out of the playoffs.”

Not to be outdone following Smith’s one-yard scoring run, Thibodaux generated an extremely impressive drive of their own, starting at their 32 following the ensuing kickoff. The Tigers engineered a 17-play drive, taking 8:29 off the clock.

Thibodaux converted two crucial fourth-and-one situations on the drive. On a third-and-four play, Wolves’ junior tackle Mickey Johnson was injured. Thibodaux’s Duncan picked up a critical first down by the length of a football, converting the first fourth-and-one situation with 1:41 left in the third period, moving the ball down to the Wolves’ 32.

On first down, Johnson was stopped for a loss of one. Reed then hit Dylan Douglas with a four-yard gain, which closed out the third quarter. On third-and-seven, Reed called his own number and picked up six yards, setting up fourth-and-one from the St. Paul’s 23. Reed went on a quick snap and handed the ball to Duncan, who bulled his way for five yards, picking up the Tigers’ 11th first down, putting the ball at the Wolves’ 18. Following a holding call on Thibodaux, Reed found Ryan Johnson for an 18-yard gainer moving the ball to the three. Johnson caught three passes for 53 yards. The Tigers then fed the ball to Duncan, who crashed his way into the end zone to build the lead to 27-17 following Williamson’s point after with 9:13 left.

St. Paul’s was unable to mount a come back as junior signal caller Alec Duncan, who had only thrown five interceptions during the season was picked off by Kevin Fox on the next series setting up the Tigers at the Wolves’ 21 with 8:08 to play.

The Wolves’ defense made a stand and Williamson misfired on a 37-yard field goal attempt, which drifted wide left, keeping the Wolves’ hopes alive.

St. Paul’s picked up one first down on its next possession with Long picking up 8 and 10 yards. Thibodaux was also called for a personal foul. Two plays later, the Tigers’ Joshua Arceneaux picked off Duncan with just 4:14 to go.

The Wolves’ defense didn’t surrender a first down and forced the Tigers to punt for the first time in the game.

St. Paul’s took over at it’s 23 with 2:29 remaining. Following an incompletion, Duncan found Mikhail Washington for 29 yards placing the ball at the Thibodaux 48.

The Tigers’ Trey Granier, a sophomore linebacker, who made plays all over the field, intercepted a pass giving the ball back at their 37.

St. Paul’s defense still playing with heart forced another three-and-out and got the ball back at its 39. Duncan hit Long for four yards and Washington for a two-yard pass completion. Following an incompletion, on fourth-and-four, Duncan hooked up with Andrew Madary on a 43-yard pass moving the ball to the Thibodaux 12-yard line with just a few seconds left. St. Paul’s ran two more plays, but the passes were incomplete closing out the contest at 27-17.

Duncan finished 12-of-24 for 175 yards, but the three picks were costly. Duncan ended the season with 1,533 yards. He had 13 TDs with eight interceptions. Wolves’ junior receiver Jermaine Sams caught two passes for 15 yards and finishes with 29 catches for 663 yards and with seven receiving TDs including a long of 89 yards against Destrehan in the bi-district round.

Coach Sears talked about what his senior class meant to the Wolves.

“I’m so proud of my seniors. We came back and won a district championship (7-0) this year and they worked so hard in the off-season. It’s a small group (15) and they did a tremendous job in terms of leadership and guiding the team through the season. I am indebted to them for everything they did for our program,” Sears said.

Wolves’ defensive coordinator Lee Pierre said it was a great senior class.

“They came through for us and provided the strong leadership we needed especially with Houston (Bates) on the d-line and our linebackers with Max Morse and Jeff Pearce and Jeff Gahn in the secondary. They played so well all season long. We have a great bunch of young players, who we are looking forward to stepping up to take over that role,” Pierre said.