Last modified: Saturday, November 29, 2008 7:41 AM CST COLLARING A BULLDOG—Amite’s Tim Wilson takes down Lutcher quarterback Gavin Webster in the first half of the Bulldogs’ 30-22 win in the Class 3A quarterfinals Friday night. By Mike Kiral Warriors, Falcons fall in quarters By John Lenz and Mike Kiral The Tangipahoa Parish area's two remaining teams in the prep football playoffs saw their postseason rides come to an end Friday night. Third-seeded Amite lost at home to sixth-seeded Lutcher, 30-22, in the Class 3A quarterfinals. In Metairie, top-seeded John Curtis knocked off JNo. 8 St. Thomas Aquinas, 36-13, in the Class 2A quarterfinals. Lutcher 30, Amite 22 AMITE — Before Lutcher went out to practice Monday for its Class 3A quarterfinal game at Amite, Bulldogs head coach Tim Detillier issued a challenge for his offensive line that was about to go up one of the top defenses in the area. That line met the challenge Friday night, allowing Lutcher to rush for 274 yards and four touchdowns in a 30-22 victory over the Warriors. "We thought they could do it but if we were to win this game, we needed their best effort and tonight we got it," Lutcher head coach Tim Detllier said. "That's by far the best the offensive line has played this year. That's answering the call." Sixth-seeded Lutcher (10-2) advanced to the semifinals where the Bulldogs will play No. 10 Cecilia who upset No. 2 Westlake, 21-18. No. 3 Amite, who lost in the quarterfinals for the second straight year, finished at 11-1. Lutcher rushed for 146 yards in the second half. Quarterback Gavin Webster completed just one pass in the second, but it was a big one — a 25-yard pass down the left hash to Shane Naquin on fourth-and-10 from the Amite 28 with 3:24 left to play. Two plays later, Jarvis Landry bulled in over the right side from the for his second touchdown of the game. Dustin St. Pierre's extra point gave the Bulldogs a 30-14 lead with 2:18 left to play. But Amite would not go down easy. Brandon Mitchell scrambled off the right side for 68 yards, then threaded a pass to Darien Henderson in the left side of the end zone from the 12. Mitchell went over the right side for the conversion, bringing the Warriors to within 30-22 with 1:50 remaining. Mitchell attempted the onsides kick, but Frederick Thomas fell on the low bouncer at his 47. Landry then carried twice for 10 yards to allow the Bulldogs to run out the clock. "That's the Warrior pride we talk about all the time," Amite head coach Alden Foster said of the attempted rally. "We're going to play to the end. We allowed a few big plays. The fourth down down here when they got to 30 and the fourth down when they got to 16 right before the half. That's two big plays you can't give up." Trailing 16-8, Amite drove to the Lutcher 27 on its openin g drive of the third quarter. Jermil Perkins picked up six yards on fourth-and-3 from the Warriors 46 and Mitchell swept right for 16 yards to the 31. But Mitchell overthrew Damien Bazley on fourth-and-6 from the 27. Lutcher responded with a 73-yard drive. Webster, who rushed 162 yards and two touchdowns, had carries 11 and 24 yards on the drive. That led to Landry's 1-yard run over right guard, giving the Bulldogs a 23-8 lead with 11:13 left in the game. Amite answered with an 81-yard drive. Rodriquez Sibley made a diving catch on the right sidelines for a 16-yard gain to the Lutcher 27. On the next play, Mitchell scrambled before dumping off a pass to Bazley. Bazley did the rest of the work, slicing down the right seam for the 27-yard score. Sean Slaven's extra point went wide right, keeping the deficit at 23-14 with 8:22 left. Daniel Taylor took a draw off the right side for 11 yards and Webster kept for 14 to the Amite 28 as the Bulldogs drove 68 yards and taking six minutes off the clock before Landry's second touchdown. Thomas intercepted a Mitchell pass in the right flat at the Amite 39 midway through the first quarter. Webster hit Landry on a quick slant for 14 yards on third-and-5 from the 16. Landry then went up the middle on a draw from the 2. Following an offsides penalty against the Warriors, Webster kept off right tackle to make it 8-0 with 3:48 left in the first quarter. Amite countered on its next drive as Perkins carried 48 yards to the Lutcher 4. Two plays later from the 5, Mitchell kept off the right side and got in inside the pylon. Mitchell then found Henderson in the right side of the end zone to tie the game at 8 with 2:23 left in the quarter. Lutcher went 67 yards to take a 16-8 lead with 4:56 left in the half. Webster found Landry for 14 yards to convert a third-and-11 from the Bulldogs 32, then went to Naquin over the middle for 16 yards on fourth-and-7 from the Amite 20. Webster again kept up the middle from the 4. After another offsides against the Warriors, Webster lofted a jump pass over the middle to Naquin to make it 16-8. Webster finished 5-of-13 for 84 yards. Thomas carried four times for 65 yards and also had two interceptions. "It was like a heavyweight bout," Detillier said. "I have the utmost of respect for the Amite Warriors. Both programs have a rich tradition and a lot of success. We knew what we were in for. We knew it would be a war and for 48 minutes, we just got after each other. We had the lead then but there was no quit in those Amite Warriors. We knew we had to play all 48 minutes. I'm proud of my team because they did that tonight." Mitchell recovered from a slow start to complete 9 of his 17 passes for 83 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Mitchell also ran for 102 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. Perkins carried 17 times fcorf 101 yards. "We put the ball in Brandon's hands a little bit and let him make plays," Foster said. "He made a few plays here and there. It was just unfortunate we came up on the short end." John Curtis 36, St. Thomas Aquinas 13 METAIRIE — It didn’t take long for top-ranked John Curtis to set the tone Friday night in the Class 2A quarterfinals against St. Thomas Aquinas. The vaunted Patriots played deep in the Falcons’ backyard the whole first quarter in rolling out to a 19-0 lead. And while STA hung fairly tough after that, the issue was settled. John Curtis (12-1) is now one very long road trip and a semifinal victory over Calvary Baptist away from playing for a fifth consecutive state title after the Patriots cruised to a 36-13 victory over the eighth-seeded Falcons (11-1) Friday night in Joe Yenni Stadium. And while the final score looked lopsided and was, Falcons coach John White could hold his head up, knowing his Falcons had given a good accounting of themselves and their program in their best season ever. “We knew expectations were high this year - and they met the expectations,” White said. “They didn’t meet it tonight, especially in that first quarter. “But that’s a good football team,” White said of the Patriots. “Twenty-two of them (total state championships), four in a row - not too many teams come into their neighborhood and bust them up.” The Falcons certainly couldn’t do it Friday as the Patriots started first-period possessions at their own 39, then at the STA 16, the STA 16, and the STA 19. That first possession was capped by a 45-yard touchdown pass from Evan Ingram to Chris Guillot. The second resulted in a fumble which STA’s Ryan Gamble recovered in the STA end zone. But an interception and 26-yard return by Jonathan McKnight set up the Patriots for a 2-yard TD run by Marchez Patterson and 13-0 lead. And when the Falcons shanked a punt six yards to set Curtis up at their own 19. The Patriots made them pay with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Ingram to Josh Hanberry for a 19-0 lead with less than 10 minutes elapsed. “It was huge,” agreed Curtis coach J.T. Curtis Jr. about the Patriots’ golden early field position. “The kicking game was awfully good to us, and I thought our defense played so physical and so fast in the first half of the game.” In fact, STA would not move the chains until the final 9 _ minutes of the first half at all. “I don’t think they played inside their 50 in the first quarter,” White said. “We kicked off to them and held them, and after that they played on our side the rest of the quarter. Their defense is real good. They’re good, they’re quick they’re strong. We had a few wrinkles for them but they just didn’t pay off.” STA finally did get on the board when quarterback Raymone Andrews connected on passes of 26 yards to Ryan Gamble and 15 yards to Blake Brooks before going back to Gamble deep in the left corner of the end zone for a touchdown. Cullen Hughes’ PAT pulled the Falcons to within 19-7 with 6:19 to play in the first half. But Curtis answered back with a 68-yard kickoff return from McKnight. The Falcons defense held and forced Curtis to settle for a 35-yard field goal by Stone Speer to make it 22-7 at halftime. The Falcons could not muster a comeback. Curtis expanded its lead to 29-7 after Dex Thibodeaux recovered a Falcon fumble at the STA 24, and Patterson went in from the 5 two plays later. And the Patriots hung their final points after STA went for it on 4th-and-7 from their own 26, only to have Andrews sacked by Matt Stansbury at the STA 19. Four plays later, Ingram snuck in from the one to make it 36-7 with 11:55 to play. St. Thomas posted its final points on the Curtis backups, driving 73 yards in eight plays, with Andrews tossing a 30-yard touchdown strike to Brooks with 1:03 to play to close the books on the Falcons’ season. STA actually played the Curtis’ veer attack pretty well, but could not crack the Patriot defense. “They kind of stacked it in there a little bit and they’ve got a physical front,” Curtis said. “We knew that after they played Homer. Homer was supposed to be a team that had a physical front and they dominated them.” Not that it was much consolation to the Falcons. “It’s not a good feeling but these kids will bounce back, probably faster than I will and a lot faster than you guys will,” White said. “That’s kids. They’re resilient. “I enjoy coaching them and I can’t wait to start coaching them again on Monday in the off-season. They came a long ways. A long ways. Nobody expect us to do this.”