The third field goal of Kingsley Hunt‘s career edged Mandeville ahead just before halftime.
The fourth, with less than two minutes remaining, lifted the Skippers (9-0, 6-0) past host Northshore, 20-17, for their first District 6-5A title since 2013 and a wealth of other implications, including a still-perfect record and potential No. 1 seed in the upcoming Division-I Non-Select playoffs.
“It just means everything. I never thought I would be kicking, honestly,” smiled the converted soccer player and punter, who connected from 44 and 40 yards near the end of the two halves. “I was always originally just a punter, and it means so much to really have a piece of this win and help my team get the victory. We’ve worked so hard the entire offseason, and coach (Craig) Jones believes in us and our whole coaching staff does a wonderful job. We just find ways to get it down. And I think this team’s really special, and we’re gonna make a run for sure and get that state title.”
The battle of unbeatens was fast and furious for a stretch of the first quarter with four straight touchdown possessions.
Northshore (8-1, 5-1) struck first with an interception by senior defensive back Brendell Vedol setting up a strike from senior quarterback J.J. Gonzalez to sophomore Andre “A.J.” Bright Jr.
Mandeville answered with a touchdown run by sophomore Creshaun McCollum, forced fumble by junior linebacker Caeden Martin recovered by junior defensive end Gauge Tucker and then an immediate 4-yard, go-ahead touchdown from sophomore quarterback Krew Collura to junior receiver Cooper Maylin.
The Panthers marched the ball right back down the field on the ground with Gonzalez pulling and cutting 8 yards to the end zone to knot the game at 14-14 after the extra point.
No one would reach an end zone again for the final 40-plus minutes.
“I think it was the opposite of normally teams try to feel each other out, and we were throwing haymakers,” Jones said. “They were sending zero-pressure. We got a couple times, and they got us a couple times. And then I think the game settled down a little bit, and then it really was back-and-forth. Field position, both punters did a good job. And then we just had enough at the end.”
Hunt hit a 44-yard field goal before halftime to the Skippers a 17-14 lead at the break.
Northshore put together a long drive, going back to its largely effective ground game, that ate most of the third quarter, but was forced to settle for a 20-yard William Lachney kick to pull back even.
And Hunt’s final opportunity late would mark the only points of the fourth.
“He’s good from 50,” Jones said of his confidence in Hunt. “We see it in practice every day. And then he’s got nerves of steel. He’s the goalkeeper on the soccer team, so he’s been in the shootouts when all the pressure’s on him. It doesn’t bother him.”
While scoring may have shut down to a trickle for the final three-plus quarters, excitement in the high-profile showdown did not.
Each team had its moments of moving the football, but saw promising possessions halted by takeaways and other timely defensive plays.
In addition to Vedol’s early interception for Northshore, junior defensive end Xiarious Agmata forced a third-quarter fumble and eventually — on his third shot — corralled the elusive recovery as it bounced between and away from multiple players.
Senior linebacker/safety Braeden Hopkins also provided the Panthers a third-down sack in the middle of the fourth quarter to force a punt from a backed-up Skippers offense.
But senior safety Logan Desroches snatched an interception deep down the middle of the field and senior linebacker Skye Margulis pounced on a red-zone fumble to give Mandeville the edge in the turnover margin in the game with decided in such narrow fashion.
“We’d been in games like this pretty much every game, so I fully expected us to come out on top, and we had every opportunity to,” Northshore coach Bobby Sanders said. “The thing that killed us tonight was just the turnovers. Turning the ball over down here just killed us. Then we give up the big-chunk quarterback run, just on a routine power-read play, and they made the field goal and made the plays.”
Collura eventually broke a long run late that flipped another backed-up possession into the best opportunity either team had seen in more than a quarter, which the Skippers eventually cashed in for Hunt’s final kick.
“Saw a hole, and I hit it,” the quarterback said. “And everybody sees the one-man job as I’m up the middle of the field, but offensive line creates a huge hole for me to burst through and essentially put us into field-goal position, and then Kingsley did the rest.”
Vedol busted a long return to give the Panthers another chance with great starting position near midfield.
But after Mandeville’s clutch plays on offense and special teams, it had another defensive response as well as sophomore defensive end Bennett Boogaerts exploded to sacks on first down to disrupt the possession and again on fourth to seal the victory.
“I was like, ‘I know it’s go-time. I’ve been playing bad all day. Right now’s my chance,'” he said. “No one said anything wrong about it, but they were just like, ‘Go out there and make a play, 2-6,’ and a I did … I knew my time was coming, if I’m being honest, man. I went out there on first down, and I got past that tackle and got that first sack, and I just knew, like, ‘They’ve gotta set me up on this tackle again,’ and that’s what they did. My coaches trusted me.”
The Skippers are now 9-0 for the first time in more than two decades, have clinched a first-round bye in the Division-I Non-Select bracket and would be the No. 1 seed if the playoffs began next week.
Mandeville wraps up the regular season at Fontainebleau (1-8, 0-6) in Week 10.
Northshore will try to rebound at Slidell (6-3, 4-2), which is third in the league standings.
“We’re gonna find out a little bit about what kind of players we have,” Sanders said. “Are they gonna be mentally weak and pout over this all weekend and everything or what? Should it hurt? Absolutely it should hurt. But in the same sense, you’ve still got everything in front of you. So we’re gonna take the same approach as if we had won tonight and correct our mistakes and worry about going 1-0 again next week and putting in the work Monday through Thursday and pretty much the same thing.”
Coincidentally, the night actually proved to be a net positive for the Panthers in the Division-I Non-Select power ratings with several other highly ranked teams — Destrehan (7-2), East Ascension (7-2), Dutchtown (7-2), Thibodaux (7-2) and Haughton (8-1) — all losing to opponents with worse win-loss records.
Northshore now sits at No. 3, just behind a Barbe team that has to travel to Southside in Week 10.
After the memorable contest, Hunt made his way to the fence behind the Skippers’ sideline and received big hugs from smiling family members.
“(That moment) means a lot,” he said. “I couldn’t do it without their support for sure. I’m new to it. I always talk to my dad every night, and I’m like, ‘I’m telling you, I’m gonna get this chance, and I’ve gotta make it.’ And he’s just like, ‘Just stay out of your head, just believe in yourself and you’ll get the job done.’ And I listened to him, and I did it. So, couldn’t get the job done without him and all my supporters.”
