[StBernard] Owls come back with a vengeance

[Westley Annis]

Owls come back with a vengeance
CHALMETTE 19    ALBANY 18 
Saturday, September 09, 2006
By Jim Derry

With tears in his eyes and a lump in his throat, Chalmette coach Tony Jurich
tried to sum up the greatest comeback he had seen from a football team. 

"This reminds me of the way it used to be," he said. 

And the Owls played like the Owls of old Friday night at Albany. 

Trailing by 18 at halftime and outgained 147 yards to 20, Chalmette didn't
allow another point while scoring three touchdowns to take a 19-18
non-district win. 

In the first 24 minutes, it didn't seem as if the Owls could stop the
Hornets, especially running back Addarius Booker, who had 14 rushes for 80
yards and two touchdowns. But Jurich challenged his team in the locker room,
and they responded with force. 

Chris Manno returned the second-half kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown to cut
the lead to 18-7, and Chalmette (1-1) never looked back. After the return,
the stats almost completely reversed, with the Owls gaining 169 yards
rushing to the Hornets' 20. 

"I can't tell you what I told them," Jurich said. "They knew this was it. I
told them that I never saw a team at Chalmette lay down. I told them this is
it right here; this is our season. 

"We've gotten a little better every week, and we got a little better this
week. But man, the kids fought their butts off and went out there and won
this game." 

Walter Randolph, whose primary position is defensive lineman, rushed nine
times for 61 yards in the second half, including two runs for a first down
on Chalmette's final drive to help run out the clock. 

Six players carried the ball for the Owls in the second half. They got
within 18-13 on Blair Rodriguez's 1-yard run with 11:13 remaining, and took
the lead on quarterback Zac Kruse's 4-yard sneak with 4:49 left. 

The defense then stifled Albany (1-1) after that, except for one 47-yard
pass from Myles Cleveland to Brandon Cowart that put the Hornets at the
Owls' 18 with 3 minutes remaining. But they couldn't get another yard and
turned over the ball on downs.