McGill-Toolen’s Ollie Poiroux (47) enjoys the aftermath of his game-winning 22-yard field goal as time expired to beat Montgomery Catholic 16-14 Friday night in Montgomery. (Jimmy Wigfield/Call News)
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
MONTGOMERY — McGill-Toolen’s Ollie Poiroux needed more than a sound mind and an unfaltering right leg when he got ready to attempt a game-winning field goal with one second left against Montgomery Catholic Friday night.
He needed a slide rule.
With a robust wind blowing across his face and from an acute angle on the left hash mark, Poiroux geometrically and serenely kicked a 22-yard field as time expired to give the No. 2-ranked Yellow Jackets a 16-14 win over the No. 5-ranked Knights.
It was Poiroux’s second game-winning field goal this season, as he delivered a 32-yarder as the clock ran out to beat St. Michael 20-17 in September, just two weeks after joining the team.
Kevin Daughtry ran for 183 yards on 24 carries and scored on runs of 40 and 51 yards for McGill-Toolen (7-1, 6-0 Class AA Region 1), which hosts No. 3-ranked UMS-Wright (7-1, 6-0) for the region championship next Friday at Lipscomb Field.
Poiroux’s game-winning field goal came after Ladarien Miller leaked out of the backfield on a third-and-12 and, surrounded by nothing but the gusting wind and perhaps blown downfield by it, collected a swing pass from quarterback Davis Fisher and raced 39 yards down the sideline to Montgomery Catholic’s 14 with 39 seconds left.
After two runs by Daughtry moved the ball to the 5, Jackets coach David Faulkner called timeout with a second remaining on the clock. The Knights then called two timeouts before Poiroux — who had bounced an extra-point kick off the left upright in the first quarter — split them with the field goal as his teammates rushed the field in celebration.
The kick was layered with complexity, as Poiroux had to factor in the wind, which intermittently approached gale force throughout the game, plus the sharp angle from left to right, which would have made it easy for the right footer to pull the kick to the left.
“The wind was going a bit left,” Poiroux said. “I really had to place my plant foot a little bit more to the right so I could get a little bit more of that hook with the wind and everything. I had double ice, too, so I had a lot of time to think about what I was going to do.”
Poiroux said the missed extra-point kick struck his ankle but he had no doubts as he stood over the winning field goal.
“I knew I had to get it back for my boys,” he said. “This has been the best team ever. They’re fighters. They’re so resilient and I had to do it for them.”
McGill-Toolen had the wind in the fourth quarter and Poiroux’s field goal put an exclamation point on a 59-yard, 10-play drive that used the last 2:21. Fisher calmly converted a fourth-and-9 at the Jackets’ 37 with a 12-yard pass in the middle of Montgomery Catholic’s zone to Kaden Thrash. Miller’s 39-yard catch and run followed three plays later.
“We felt like we had plenty of time,” said Faulkner, who is off to the best start in his four years at McGill-Toolen. “We were really stalled there and Davis did a great job of finding Ladarien open in the flat and then Ladarien does what Ladarien does. Ollie did the rest. We had a tremendous amount of confidence in Ollie and we felt like once we got in his range, he would make the kick. This wind was treacherous, so you had to take advantage of it when you had it in your back and we were able to do that.”
Knights coach Aubrey Blackwell sought to console his players after a third straight loss by six points or less — 24-21 to Briarwood on another late field goal and a 33-27 double-overtime loss at UMS-Wright last week.
“You definitely like the situation you’re in,” he said of holding the lead with 2:21 left. “You have an opportunity there on third down and long to make a play and we busted the coverage. Regardless of that, our kids played tough against a group that has a school that’s almost four times our size, with four times the roster and after we lost a defensive lineman early, so we had to play two linemen both ways all night. We did that against a former 6A program and we held it all the way down to the wire.
“My heart breaks for them. We’ve been so close the last three weeks. This is a young football team with a lot of juniors and sophomores, so I don’t want their spirit to be broken.”
The Jackets controlled most of the game with their relentless running game that amassed 270 yards on 52 carries — most of it between the tackles — and controlled the clock for 32:29. McGill-Toolen dominated the first half, outgaining Montgomery Catholic 168 yards to 16, but the Knights stopped the Jackets at the 23 and 11 in the first half.
“We needed to do a better job in the red zone in the first half and maybe we’ve got a better lead at halftime,” Faulkner said. “We’re going to get better and they’re going to get better. We may see each other again.”
Montgomery Catholic went to a faster tempo in the second half and quarterback Will Blackwell threw TD passes of 15 yards to Tymori Player for a 7-6 lead in the third quarter and a 68-yarder into the wind that floated down to Elijah Nunnelly with 6:11 remaining to give the Knights a 14-13 lead.
In between, Daughtry broke free on a 51-scoring run off right tackle with 6:51 to go to give McGill-Toolen a 13-7 lead.
“We’re just trying to get more snaps,” coach Blackwell said. “They limited us so much. We only had three snaps in the first quarter. We just we decided we’re going to pick up our tempo. We’ve got the athletes to do it. We’ve got to get them chances to make big plays and that’s what you saw there.”
Will Blackwell, who leads Class AA in passing yardage, was 16-of-26 passing for 152 yards after completing just 4 of 12 for 18 yards in the first half.
“Will hung in there tonight and took a lot of shots,” coach Blackwell said. “They were bringing six when we were empty and he was getting hit every time and delivering the ball, especially on those two drives where we scored. I’m proud of the toughness he showed to stay in there and hang in the pocket and deliver the throw.”
The Jackets held Montgomery Catholic (5-4, 4-2) to minus 20 yards rushing, including two high snaps for 40 yards in losses.
McGill-Toolen won’t have long to savor the victory with UMS-Wright’s frenetic, no-huddle offense quickly approaching.
“It’ll be a contrast in styles and the way we both approach the game and it’ll really be who can get the game played at the tempo they want it played at,” Faulkner said. “They’ve got an excellent football team, so we’ll have to play at our best next week. It’ll be a chance for a region championship, so I’m sure both teams will come in ready to play.”
