Teurlings Takes Thriller From Lafayette Christian Academy to Remain Unbeaten

In a game that lived up to the hype, the Teurlings Catholic Rebels snatched victory from the jaws of defeat as they scored the go-ahead touchdown with less than a minute to go on a 4th down heave from Preston Welch to Bradford Cain in front of a sold out crowd at Knight Field.

The game between Teurlings and LCA took center stage Thursday night as the two District 4-4A powers fought to stay atop the district standings. The Knights started off the contest by taking the opening kickoff and marching down the field on a drive that ended with a 5-yard touchdown run by JuJuan Johnson. Then, as the back-and-forth nature of the game began to take shape, the Rebels evened the score later in the quarter when Kentrelle Prejean took the handoff on a wide receiver sweep from one yard out.

That touchdown by Prejean followed an interception by the Teurlings defense that set up the Rebels inside LCA territory. And the drive itself was aided by LCA penalties.

More on the LCA turnovers and penalties later.

In the 2nd Quarter, the two teams traded possessions multiple times as the defenses settled in and began to take over. But, at the end of the half, LCA went on an impressive up tempo drive that featured a heavy dose of running back Jalen Noel and ended with a Rylan Thomas 29-yard field goal to give the Knights the 10-7 advantage at the Half.

Then came the thrilling second half.

After nearly two quarters of being shut down, the Teurlings offense came alive as Welch connected with Jack Purser for a 16-yard touchdown midway through the 3rd Quarter as the Rebels took their first lead of the game 14-10.

After racking up yardage but not finishing off multiple drives with points, the LCA offense put the Knights back on top when Johnson hooked up with Alex Beard on a 41-yard touchdown pass as LCA led 17-14 with less than five minutes to go in the 4th Quarter.

Then, after the Knights defense stopped Teurlings on the ensuing drive, the offense drove down inside the 5-yard line with just over two minutes left. But penalties pushed the Knights back and out of field goal range and the offense turned it over on downs.

Then, Welch led a drive that will go down in Teurlings lore.

After picking up a first down with his legs, Welch drew a hit from the Knight defense that gave the Rebels another 15 yards in penalties. With less than a minute to go, on 4th down from the LCA 37-yard line, Welch was flushed to the right and launched a pass down the sideline to Bradford Cain that was caught for the game-winning touchdown with 34 seconds to go as Teurlings went on top 21-17.

With the limited time, LCA tried to respond but Johnson was picked off for the fourth time to end the contest.

(You can watch the game in its entirety below.)

Teurlings improves to 7-0 on the season and 2-0 in district play. LCA falls to 5-2 on the season and 1-1 in district play.