A two-score Carencro lead early in the fourth quarter evaporated in a span of 16 seconds as St. Thomas More swung a pair of quick touchdowns thanks to a successful onside kick.
But the Golden Bears ground their way downfield, converting a pair of fourth downs and clawing their way into a 27-yard field goal attempt that sophomore kicker Matthew Latham managed to sneak just inside the right upright and over the crossbar.
And as the Cougars tried to march their back down their home field for one more answer, Carencro senior athlete Chantz Babineaux (Nicholls State) was instead waiting in the end zone to secure his second interception as time expired with a historic 30-27 win.
“How about the resiliency?” Carencro coach Gavin Peters beamed. “How about our sophomore kicker to get the ball through the uprights there to make history? First time we’ve beaten these guys since 2006, and I couldn’t be more proud of our team. I couldn’t be more proud of our coaches.”
The Bears hadn’t won in the past 12 meetings of the crosstown rivalry, extending back long enough that no current member of the team was born yet at the time of that 2006 season opener.
But sophomore quarterback Carson Gurzi said the team, including himself and Latham among several sophomores in key roles, had built a belief in their ability to compete with any opponent in the state through their preparation.
“Each and every day we go to work, and we know that we have the squad to do it,” he said. “We talk about the key word, ‘Believe: Believe in us, believe in us and believe in each other. Play for each other.’ We talk about that on the daily, Monday through Friday. And we just come out here, believe and play for each other and do all those things we talk about during the week. And we’ve got confidence in ourselves and ended up coming out here and making history.”
If a punt-return touchdown by junior wide receiver Jared Quoyeser risking shaking any of that confidence early in the second quarter, a pair of big second-quarter returns — a kickoff by sophomore Brandon Duffy Jr. and a pick-six by Babineaux — provided a boost and the first Carencro lead, 13-7.
But St. Thomas More managed an answer with a Carter Melancon touchdown run before half.
The Bears controlled the third quarter on the ground, including senior Chris Baham and sophomore Khylen Taylor each finding the end zone for a 27-13 lead heading into the fourth.
“Early on tonight, I came out and had a couple of mistakes, but coming out the second half, I knew we had to keep our head down and keep fighting,” Baham said. “We battled through it last year, and we had already had a lot of adversity. So we were used to it and just kept our head down and kept going.”
But, again, the home Cougars countered — first with another Melancon run, then an early onside kick and another score on a keeper by senior quarterback Cole Bergeron (Virginia Tech).
“I felt like coming in we knew it was gonna be a close game, it was gonna be a dog fight,” Batiste said. “We were up two touchdowns, they came back and tied it up, I told my team, ‘Hey, man, it’s not done.’ And then we came out with the win.”
Carencro went back to the ground game where Baham and junior Cardaye Batiste helped eat clock and keep the chains moving, including fourth on which Gurzi hit Babineaux for one conversion and Baham somehow, someway narrowly managed another in a scrum.
Yard by yard and inch by inch, the Bears advanced just far enough into the red zone for Latham to regain the lead with his kick.
And Babineaux fittingly closed out the victory with one last big play.
“It just felt great, the moment,” he said. “We did it for the city, to bring the city up.”
