Crowley falls to No. 2 seed Parkview Baptist

Crowley High senior wideout Donavon Morris (9) looks for running room after a reception Friday in the Gents’ 38-16 loss to No. 2 seed Parkview Baptist in the second round of the Class AAA playoffs. Morris hauled in seven passes for 130 yards and a touchdown in the loss.

Jacob Dupuis

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By Chris Quebedeaux
SPORTS EDITOR

BATON ROUGE – For the first 23 minutes Friday, Crowley High’s Gents gave No. 2 seed Parkview Baptist all the Eagles could handle in their Class AAA regional playoff showdown.
Unfortunately for the Gents, that wasn’t the case the remainder of the game.
Parkview, sparked by breakdowns of the Gents’ special teams, scored 24 unanswered points in the final 25 minutes to snap a 14-14 tie and take a 38-16 victory.
The victory boosted Parkview to 10-1 and sent the Eagles to the quarterfinals Friday where they will take on Patterson and the Kenny Hilliard-led Lumberjacks in Patterson.
The Gents, seeded No. 15, finished their season at 9-3.
“That’s a very good football team,” said CHS coach Tommy Tate of Parkview. “They are solid all over, they don’t have a weakness.”
To be sure, Parkview does not have many weaknesses. But the Eagles were vulnerable in the secondary and the Gents exposed that flaw early to leave the hosts and their fans shell-shocked.
Crowley quarterback D’Myrus Daniels, in his best passing performance of the season, picked apart the Parkview defense in the first half, throwing for 153 yards and one touchdown before the break.
That effort allowed the Gents to take an early 7-0 lead and also allowed them to tie the game after the Eagles had gone ahead 14-7.
Daniels’ main target on the night was senior wideout Donavon Morris, who had six receptions for 110 yards in the first half and 130 yards overall. That total included a 44-yard touchdown pass that tied the game at 14-14 midayway through the second quarter.
“The game plan was working well early on,” said Tate. “We moved the ball well in the first half.”
That they did.
But what they didn’t do was execute on special teams and that wound up being the difference.
With both teams moving the ball at will, Parkview took control on two big plays - one at the end of the first half and the other to start the second half.
Both involved special teams and they swung the momentum to the home team.
Parkview never relinquished it.
The first breakdown occurred when Parkview took advantage of a short punt by the Gents with just over a minute to go in the first half and came after the Gents’ defense had held the Eagles near midfield and forced a punt.
Hopes of a possible 14-14 halftime tie quickly died, however.
Unable to move the ball after taking over inside the 10, D’Myrus Daniels punted out of his own end zone. The shanked punt traveled only 20 yards and the Eagles took over at the CHS 28-yard line.
From there, it took the Eagles just four plays and 36 seconds to hit pay dirt. PBHS quarterback Brady Wilson capped the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run to give the Eagles a 21-14 advantage.
If that wasn’t enough of a blow, the Gents then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, giving Parkview the ball back at the CHS 35 with 20 seconds remaining. Fortunately for the Gents, the Eagles’ potential scoring drive was thwarted as time expired when Tuskani Figaro intercepted Wilson’s pass in the back of the end zone.
“The special teams started blowing up on us right there at the end of the half,” said Tate of the punt that set up Parkview’s third touchdown. “We got backed up and then we got a shanked punt. That was the first hiccup on special teams.”
Despite those woes, the Gents remained confident, especially since they were set to receive the kickoff to open the second half. With the offense clicking as it was, a seven-point deficit didn’t appear insurmountable.
But what happened to open the second half changed that.
The Eagles executed an onsides kick, recovered the ball and then scored six plays later on a 1-yard run by Paxton Cook.
Suddenly, it was 28-14 and the writing was on the wall..
“That series at the end of the half really hurt us,” said Tate. “Then to start the second half, they do a good job of executing the onside kick and that set the tone. They went in there and knocked it in and it gave them a two-touchdown lead.
“With two touchdowns and the offense they run, it makes things a lot easier for them. They pound it, keep it on the ground and run the clock.”
The Gents’ offense had no answer in the final two quarters, mustering just 45 yards and two first downs in the final 24 minutes.
“We made a few adjustments on certain packages at halftime,” said Parkview coach Kenny Guillot. “And I think we started playing with a little more sense of urgency.”
Those adjustments showed when Crowley went three and out on its first possession of the third quarter.
Parkview followed up with a six-play, 46-yard drive that was capped by a Drew Dileo 9-yard touchdown run.
The only thing remaining was the final score.
Parkview mounted another drive that ate up nearly seven minutes of the fourth quarter and resulted in a 42-yard field goal by Neil Scott and the Gents got two final points on a safety with 33 seconds left.
“They ran a lot of clock,” said Tate. “We didn’t run many offensive plays in the third quarter. Their offense stayed on the field in the second half and we couldn’t get them off.”
Statistically, Daniels finished the game with 202 passing yards and was Crowley’s leading rusher with 43 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. He scored the Gents’ first touchdown of the game on a 20-yard run just four minutes into the contest.
Morris led all receivers with seven catches for 130 yards and sophomore Kye Daigle had three catches for 33 yards. Tonori Boutte had one catch for 22 yards to go along with five rushing yards on four carries and Kaleb Cormier hauled in two passes for 17 yards.
Parkview’s Wilson also had a good night, completing seven of his 12 pass attemps for 111 yards, including a 29-yard flee-flicker to Brooks Godbery for a touchdown. Godbery finished with two receptions for 41 yards and also had an interception on defense.
Wilson also led Parkview’s ground attack with nine carries for 52 yards.
Michigan commitment Drew Dileo was limited to just 28 yards on eight carries but he scored twice and had four catches for 72 yards.
“I can’t say enough about the effort our kids gave tonight,” said Tate. “I’m proud of this football team and really proud of the seniors. They hung in there and fought tough and really fought the good fight tonight. It was just too much to overcome against a good football team tonight.”