Jahlil Green and Schekel Wallace were at a loss for words after Lafayette High’s football team saw its most successful season in years end two wins short of playing for a state championship.
The Rams, who entered Saturday’s 3A East Region championship — or state quarterfinal, as the winner advances to the state Final Four — as the No. 1 overall seed, had their unbeaten streak end at 11 games after being upset by No. 4 James Monroe, 34-28, in a hard-fought battle decided in overtime.
Yellow Jackets coach Rick Serbay was also at a loss for words — although for a much different reason — after watching his team that never led during regulation overcome a 14-0 first-half deficit to win the first overtime period.
“I can’t describe how we did it,” said Serbay, who has led James Monroe to the state semifinals four out of the past six years. “That was just an amazing game. [Lafayette] had everything going for them — home field advantage, momentum, a great coaching staff and a great team — it’s the most satisfying win I’ve had in a long, long time because we beat one heck of a football team. It was just an amazing game.”
A big difference was the Yellow Jackets (9-4) made few, if any, mistakes while the Rams (12-1) turned the ball over four times, including a pair of costly fumbles on back-to-back possessions to open the second half.
James Monroe was also dominant through the air as quarterback Jay Scroggins picked apart Lafayette’s defense for 323 yards while completing 32 of 43 pass attempts.
After James Monroe scored with 40 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 28-all, the Yellow Jackets scored first in overtime on a three-yard pass play from Scroggins to Antonio Edwards (10 catches, 81 yards), but failed to convert the extra-point attempt.
Lafayette was then stuffed on three straight running plays before Brendan McGinty’s fourth-down pass across the middle of the end zone, intended for Brandon Villanueva-Pernell, was broken up by Tre’von Lucas.
Nearly all of Lafayette’s players who were on the field dropped to the turf in disbelief.
“I can’t really say much. Don’t know what to say,” said Wallace, who rushed for 111 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries while playing every snap on both sides of the ball. “But I’m proud of my team.”
Added Jahlil Green, who ran for 136 yards on 18 attempts to eclipse the 2,000-yard mark for his season, “All I can think about right now is what I could have done better to help the team.”
During the first half, Lafayette displayed all the tools that helped it reach the school’s first regional final since 2007.
The Rams defense bent but never broke, holding James Monroe scoreless until the final minute of the half while the offense, led by Green and Wallace, opened up a 14-point cushion.
Wallace scored the first of his three touchdowns early in the second quarter to give Lafayette a 7-0 lead before McGinty connected with Villanueva-Pernell down the sideline for a 31-yard score to put the Rams ahead 14-0.
Lafayette had the ball late in the second quarter and seemed poised to take a 14-0 lead into the half before McGinty was intercepted by Jarmal Bevels with 1:30 left on the clock.
The Yellow Jackets then marched downfield on four straight pass plays before Scroggins bowled into the end zone from 1 yard out to cut Lafayette’s lead in half, 14-7.
“That was my fault,” Linn said of the interception. “I should have run the clock out instead of trying to pass.”
With Lafayette still leading by a touchdown, the momentum shifted quickly in the second half.
On the first play of the third quarter, Green was stripped by James Monroe’s Marcus Brooks before Gary Boxley scooped up the ball at roughly the 25-yard line and scampered all the way for the tying score.
On the Rams’ next possession, Wallace was stripped on Lafayette’s third play of the half, but the defense would hold James Monroe to a missed field goal.
Lafayette regrouped as Wallace capped off a 13-play, 80-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge up the middle to put the Rams back on top, 21-14, in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter.
After James Monroe answered with a 32-yard touchdown pass from Scroggins to Kordell Boyd to tie things at 21-21, Wallace lowered his head for another 1-yard touchdown run — his third score of the game — to give the Rams a 28-21 lead with 2:05 left in regulation.
That was more than enough time for Scroggins, who moved the Yellow Jackets downfield seemingly with ease, to connect with a handful of different receivers via 10-yard slant and out patterns. With 40 seconds to play, he completed a 13-yard pass across the middle to Boyd who fumbled near the goal line, but Bevels was there to fall on the ball in the end zone for the game-tying score.
The Rams had one last chance after a few hard runs from Wallace put Lafayette into James Monroe territory, but Brooks Rouse’s 43-yard field goal attempt fell short.
After being stopped on their first possession of overtime following a James Monroe touchdown, the Rams huddled for one last postgame chat in the home end zone.
“I told the kids not to hang their heads,” Coach Andy Linn said. “They played their butts off. You can’t have four turnovers, that killed us, but we still had a chance to win.”
James Monroe 34 Lafayette 28
James Monroe- 0 7 7 14 6 – 34
Lafayette- 0 14 0 14 0 – 28
Second Quarter
Laf- Wallace 3-yard run (Rouse kick)
Laf- Villanueva-Pernell 32-yard pass from McGinty (Rouse kick)
JM- Scroggins 1-yard run (Dit kick)
Third Quarter
Boxley 11-yard fumble return (Dit kick)
Fourth Quarter
Laf-Wallace 1-yard run (Rouse kick)
JM- Boyd 32-yard pass from Scroggins (Dit kick)
Laf- Wallace 1-yard run (Rouse kick)
JM- Bevels fumble recovery (Dit kick)
Overtime
JM- Edwards 3-yard pass from Scroggins (kick failed)
