Mandeville quarterback Krew Collura shot his left hand out to secure the snap, sliced cleanly through a wide-open running lane and then coolly spun the ball onto the end-zone turf to celebrate the clutch moment.
The third-down touchdown with 12 seconds remaining and subsequent two-point conversion to tight end Captain Best capped a seven-play go-ahead drive to claim a 22-15 road win on rival Slidell’s field in a back-and-forth slug fest that got particularly chaotic late.
“If you go back to the way we executed on the sky-kick with the return to put us on the plus side of 50, and then Krew not getting rattled when we had a couple negative plays on the last drive and then ultimately punching it in there,” Mandeville coach Craig Jones said. “I don’t know if we would’ve called it that way five weeks ago. But he’s just healthy now, so it opens up more that we can do.”
The sophomore quarterback and his Skippers teammates were unfazed and unflappable late as the Tigers suddenly, surprisingly snatched a 15-14 lead with an impressive response of their own on an extra-point snap-hold issue turned fire-drill, go-ahead two-point conversion.
Backed into a third-and-16 a few plays letter, Collura took off and dashed about 25 yards down toward the 5-yard line.
And in another third-down scenario with the clock dwindling, he gashed right up the middle in a lane opened by right guard Graham Newman and right tackle Levi Hastings with tight end Landon Lips and running back Will Estep leading Collura through like a personal security detail.
“I trust my guys,” Collura said. “Sure, the snap’s a little wide, but it doesn’t matter. They’re blocked up front. The snap was a little wide, but my hole was this big. The gap was huge. I got to tip-toe through the end zone. And it’s big. I can’t speak enough on this offensive line.”
The promising southpaw, the No. 1 quarterback in Louisiana vs. All Y’all’s 2029 class rankings, threw a first-half touchdown and ran for a pair — both go-ahead scores — in the second half of a night on which points were tougher to come by than anticipated.
Mandeville and Slidell entered the week averaging 49.75 and 34.5 points per game, respectively, including 41.25 the past three weeks for the Tigers.
But the defenses rose to the occasion to limit explosive plays and require longer drives, including third-down conversions, to reach the goal line.
Slidell scratched the scoreboard first by string together an interception by senior safety Jeff Harris and third-down conversions from quarterback Ricky Williams to fellow seniors in running back Ja’Kwan Jones and wide receiver Michael “Mike T” Thompson — the latter in the end zone.
The Skippers followed a similar pattern to even the score as junior linebacker Caeden Martin pounced on a red-zone fumble by the Tigers and Collura hit senior receiver Luke Demelo for a third-down catch-and-run on the other end of the field.
Mandeville appeared to be taking control in the third quarter with a pair of stops and a 5-yard, third-down run by Collura to the end zone for the team’s first lead.
The Tigers mustered a fourth-down stop midway through the fourth quarter, though, on a nice play behind the line by senior defensive end Javonte’ Watkins, one of the unit’s leading playmakers throughout the contest.
And Williams, Jones and company grinded their way down inside the 1, where the quarterback managed to power in a fourth-down keeper with 2:42 remaining.
Slidell lined up the subsequent extra-point in hopes of knotting the game at 14-14, but instead had to scramble to salvage a potential disaster into an even better outcome than intended.
Junior holder Dadrian Bartee managed to scoop up the bouncing snap, roll away from oncoming Skipper and find senior corner Cortez Thompson along the side of the end zone for the 15-14 lead.
But a well-played and -returned kick by Estep set Collura up with his shortest field of the evening, and Mandeville — despite a couple hiccups with a penalty and tackle for loss — would not be denied.
This article will be updated further…
