Brother Martin Holds Off Jesuit New Orleans to Win Louisiana
Brother Martin Holds Off Jesuit New Orleans to Win Louisiana
Brother Martin defeated Jesuit New Orleans 22-10 Wednesday night to win the Louisiana State Championship at the Gold Mine.
It was the fourth consecutive year that these two teams have met in the State Championship.
Brother Martin opened the scoring after a ruck close to the Jesuit goalline. Senior co-captain and No. 8, Maverick Trimble opened the scoring, powering past the defending flanker to go over on an eightman pick. JD Ward converted and the score stood at 7-0.
Both sides had opportunities but due to the fierce collisions, possession was lost in contact repeatedly. Eventually Jesuit was able to even the score, stealing possession from Brother Martin near midfield. The Blue Jays worked the ball the multiple phases and worked their way down to score and convert; Brother Martin 7 Jesuit New Orleans 7.
Senior scrumhalf, and man of the match, Cameron Coughlin broke away on the weak side, drew the defender, and fed senior outside center Branson Perez to break the tie. That made it 12-7. And then as halftime approached, Jesuit slotted a penalty goal to inch closer at 12-10.
The second half was a back-and-forth affair with both sides playing tenacious defense and it remained on a knife edge.
At the 60-minute mark, Brother Martin broke the dam. Senior prop Nathan Blount powered over for a try and with the conversion no good Brother Martin held onto a slim, one-score lead at 17-10.
But minutes later Brother Martin iced it. Loose forward Nathan Malek tied up several tacklers and offloaded to senior outside center Blake Cordova and he went over to make it 22-10.
There wasn't enough time for Jesuit to respond, and the final whistle blew shortly thereafter.
