Defensive stop helps Tiger gridders hold on

The St. James High School football team’s offense had the type of balanced attack head coach Greg Harlan was hoping for.

But it was a defensive stand late in the fourth quarter which ultimately delivered a victory for the Tigers in the 2009 season-opener Friday night.

Cuba took over after a fumbled punt by St. James inside the Tiger 20 yardline. However, the Tiger defense bowed its neck and produced a 4-and-out stand. St. James’ offense responded with the lone touchdown of the second half, sealing a 28-20 non-league victory Friday at the St. James High School football field.

After a wild first half, the two defenses settled down and were pitching second-half shutouts.

Midway through the fourth period Cuba punted to St. James. However, the Tigers fumbled the kick and the Wildcats jumped on the ball inside the 20, trailing 22-20.

Cuba was unable to punch it in, giving the ball back to the Tigers in the shade of their own endzone.

The Tigers got out of the hole quickly, as sophomore quarterback Jake Harlan found sophomore wideout Caleb Martensen with a 40-yard pass. On the next play Harlan again went to the air, hooking up with junior wideout Tyler Karnes for a 30-yard touchdown reception. The two-point conversion run fell short, leaving the score 28-20 with two minutes left.

That would prove to be enough, as the St. James defense took care of Cuba’s final chance.
It was the first victory for the Tigers since last year’s season-opening win over Cuba, snapping a nine-game skid.

“Coming into the game we had the losing streak and felt some pressure,” Greg Harlan said. “We felt it was a game we could win. It was a back and forth, exciting game.”

The second-half defensive battle was in stark contrast to a combined 42 total points produced before intermission.

St. James scored its first TD of the season at the 6:45 mark of the first period when Jake Harlan connected with Martensen with a seven-yard strike. Martensen also kicked the PAT.

Cuba responded four minutes later, as senior Nick Wyatt punched it in on a five-yard run. Junior quarterback Nick Kruse ran in the two-point conversion and the Wildcats led 8-7 with 2:22 left in the first period.

The see-saw battle continued in the second period. St. James regained the lead when Harlan again hooked up with Martensen for a 12-yard TD pass. The Tigers tried to run in the conversion but failed.

A minute later Cuba once again took the lead as Kruse optioned, found an opening and was gone for a 44-yard touchdown. The Wildcats’ run attempt fell short on the conversion and St. James trailed 14-13.

Harlan capped a Tiger scoring drive with an one-yard scoring plunge with 5:20 left in the first half. Harlan’s conversion pass fell incomplete.

Cuba countered with under two minutes left in the half. Ryan Burke got the touchdown on a 13-yard run. Again, the conversion run failed and Cuba led 20-19.

The Tigers took the lead for good with less than a second remaining in the first half.

St. James drove 70 yards in 1:40. The Tigers’ Tyler Craft broke loose on a couple of long gainers and Harlan completed three passes in the drive, getting to the Cuba seven yardline with :04 left. From there Martensen lined up for a field goal attempt and the 24-yarder was good with 0.4 of a second left, giving the host team a 22-20 halftime advantage.

St. James rolled up 435 yards of total offense – 231 through the air and 204 rushing.
Harlan had a huge game, connecting on 27-of-34 passes for 231 yards and rushing 13 times for 108 yards, giving him 339 all-purpose yards.

Also for the Tigers Craft, a junior running back, rushed 12 times for 84 yards while Martensen caught eight passes for 82 yards while junior tight end Danny Jernigan caught six passes for 56 yards, Craft had seven receptions for 49 yards and Karnes caught five balls for 37 yards.

Junior lineman Brock Adelsberger had seven solo tackles and seven assists for the Tiger defense while senior linebacker Josh Wright had seven solos and six assists and sophomore end Parshawn Henton collected two quarterback sacks.

“We struggled defensively but when we had our backs against the wall and we had to have a stop the kids made the plays,” Greg Harlan said. “That defensive stop (in the fourth quarter) was huge.

“Jake had a good game and a lot of credit goes to the offensive line. They gave up no sacks; we had great pass protection. Craft ran the ball real hard. One negative thing was we had 11 penalties, with nine of them coming against the offense. You eliminate those penalties and it’s another 100 yards. We had four plays of 25-plus yards called back.”

St. James is slated to open its Four Rivers Conference schedule on Friday at Hermann (7 p.m. kickoff). Hermann lost to Sullivan 25-7 in its opener.