The final district game of the season took place Saturday afternoon at Joe Yenni Stadium. With a win, the Crusaders (8-2,3-2) would earn a share of the district title, but came up short in a 45-24 loss to the Rummel Raiders.
Brother Martin opened the game with a 72-yard, 8-play drive on a Broggi QB keeper and a 7-yard score. Jared West helped set up the scoring TD with a 17-yard rush and 30-yard screen pass. The Raiders countered with a 28-yard field goal. The Crusaders began another impressive drive but a 10-yard holding penalty followed by a Broggi interception halted the drive and lead to a 34-yard Rummel scoring run.
Rummel scored on an 85-yard drive that gave the Raiders a 17-7 lead. Brother Martin’s Mitchell Boudreaux closed out the first-half with a 35-yard field goal to make it 17-10.
Leading 17-10, Rummel received the second-half kickoff and motored down the field 80 yards in 16 plays with the quarterback scoring on a one yard QB sneak.
The third quarter was what seemed to separate the two team as Brother Martin committed two costly turnovers and ran just four plays from scrimmage in 12 minutes.
With Rummel leading 38-10 at the start of the fourth quarter, Brother Martin began to show some hope recovering a Raider fumble at the 4-yard line. Bruce Jordan-Swilling scooped up the turnover and ran four yards for a score, cutting the deficit to 38-17. On the next Crusader possession, Broggi hit Jeremy Singleton on an 86 yards TD pass. The PAT left Martin trialing 38-24 with 6:50 to play.
A 35-yard rush by Rummel set up a 5-yard touchdown run with 2:32 to play that sealed the win.
Brother Martin will play Archbishop Shaw in the opening round of the 2014 LHSAA Football Playoffs. Kickoff is scheduled for Friday, November 14th at Joe Yenni Stadium for 7:00pm. Pre-sale tickets can be purchased for $6 in the Bookstore and $8 at the gate.
