It ended before anyone realized it wasn’t over.
A Louisiana high school football championship was decided in one of the most devastating ways imaginable Friday night, when Archbishop Shaw High School effectively handed the LHSAA Division II Select state title to St. Charles Catholic because of a premature celebration.
The game, played at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, appeared to be finished with 35 seconds remaining when Shaw recovered an onside kick while leading 21–20.
One kneel-down should have ended the game and delivered a coveted state championship.
Instead, chaos ensued.
Following the kneel, a Shaw player removed his helmet on the field, triggering an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
Under Louisiana high school rules, the penalty stopped the clock, preventing the clock from expiring fully.
Because time remained, Shaw had to punt on the extra down instead of simply watching the clock run out following a kneel.
The punt was shanked, giving St. Charles surprisingly good field position with just seconds left.
From there, senior kicker Tyler Milioto drilled a 44-yard field goal as time expired, flipping the score to 23–21 and delivering the Comets a shocking state title.
Given that earlier in the game, St. Charles missed an extra point that would have tied the score, the ending was that much worse for Shaw.
But better for St. Charles.
“I felt like I had lost us the game, and then next thing I know I’m out there kicking the game-winning field goal,” Milioto said of his second chance, per NOLA.com.
The win gave St. Charles their fourth state title.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
