Despite trailing by two scores late in the third quarter, Brusly rallied to claim a 23-20 win over Port Allen, which keeps the Sugar Cane Classic trophy with the Panthers for another year.
Brusly engineered a 14-point comeback and scored 17 straight in the 51st Sugar Cane Classic game played Friday night in Brusly.
How it was won
Port Allen's defense took matters into its own hands to get some points on the board.
Brusly quarterback Tucker Smalley dropped back to pass and was hit as he threw it. Port Allen's Joshua Howard intercepted the pass and returned it for a 48-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion made it 8-0 with 5:35 remaining in the first quarter.
Port Allen put together a solid drive to end the first half, which was capped by a Landon Jones touchdown. The score gave the Pels a 14-0 halftime lead.
Brusly responded with a productive drive of its own, capped by Cody Loupe's 1-yard touchdown run to trim the Port Allen lead to 14-6.
The Pels extended the lead to 20-6 with 3:04 left in the third quarter on an 8-yard touchdown run by Darius Harris.
Brusly's Josiah Hogan connected with Andrew Jones on a 50-yard pass to set the Panthers up in the red zone. Hogan finished the drive with a 1-yard plunge. A successful two-point conversion cut Port Allen's lead to 20-14 early in the fourth.
Hogan helped complete the Brusly comeback when he found Smalley streaking across the middle of the field for a 67-yard touchdown with 5:26 to play. Chandler Young's extra point put the Panthers ahead for good.
The Brusly defense recovered a fumble and sacked Harris for a safety on Port Allen's last two drives.
Player of the game
Josiah Hogan, Brusly: The sophomore quarterback excelled in his first high school game by completing 3 of 4 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for a touchdown in three quarters. Smalley started at quarterback and played the entire first quarter before Hogan stepped in.
They said it
Brusly coach Hoff Schooler: “Really a good football game on both sides. I thought both teams came out and played hard. Port Allen gets the turnover early and gets things going.
"And really a great job by our kids to weather the storm and come back and find a way in the fourth quarter to win the football game.”
Port Allen coach Don Gibson: “It was a tough one. It’s always tough to win this game. You got to give credit to Brusly. They made a little adjustment in the second half to go two tight ends to help them some. We lost a little bit of focus and discipline on the tight end on that time they got the long play. Then we lost discipline and focus on the long pass.
"Overall, I thought the defense played tough and hard. We just have to figure the things out and find out what we can do when we’re missing guys that we count on. We’ll go back to the drawing board and get it figured out.”
Notable
• With the win, Brusly leads the series 27-24. Port Allen’s last victory came in 2017.
• Port Allen receiver Brennan Gibson suffered a shoulder injury in the first quarter and didn’t return to the game. The severity is unknown.