GAME 3:  Saint Jude 29, Saint James 28  (3 OT)

Chris Caver's eight yard touchdown pass to Timothy Robinson and the unexpected extra point converted by Clausell Mathis to conclude the third overtime were enough to give the Saint Jude Pirates their first ever victory over the Saint James Trojans who lost their third straight to open the 1996 season, in an extremely sloppy 29 - 28 city matchup.  The extremely sloppy was thanks in great part due to 174 penalty yards piled up by the Pirates.

This game seemed to take forever, not only because of three overtimes after regulation, but also because of thirty accepted penalties. 22 heat and self-called timeouts, a few injury timeouts sprinkled in, and six turnovers between the teams.  Penalties occurred on each of the first three plays of the game, a Saint James out of bounds kickoff, and then two Saint Jude illegal procedure penalties.  The Pirates even had to take a timeout before they punted, for 15 yards, after being stopped on a three and out.  However, despite a nice gain on a run by Jake McMillan and a pass reception to Jay Robertson, a lost fumble was recovered by the Pirates and returned to their own 45.  Saint Jude again could not advance the ball, but this punt was much better and deeper.  A personal foul penalty after a fumble on the return did give the Trojans decent field position at their own 34.

Another personal foul preceded a 10 yard run by Jason Smith.  After minor penalties both ways, Smith converted a third and short yardage to the Pirate 24.  From there, the drive stalled and Rick Fidel attempted a 43 yard field goal, which failed.  Saint Jude again failed to make a first down and punted.  A fine return by Smith inside Pirate territory was wiped out by an illegal block penalty.  However, Robertson hauled in two passes from Alan Olsen for 10 and 12 yards and first downs as the opening quarter ended scoreless.  Smith later picked up eleven yards and a first down, moving the ball down to the Pirate 22, but holding and illegal forward pass penalties pushed the Trojans well back.  On fourth down, Olsen was dropped for an 11 yard loss on some sort of trick play which failed miserably.

Chris Caver, Pirate quarterback, finally earned a first down for Saint Jude on an 11 yard pass completion, but three plays later Robertson intercepted a pass at the Trojan 40 to give Saint James possession.  Three plays netted only five yards, and the Pirates rushed in to block the ensuing punt.  The ball bounced around before finally going out of bounds at the Saint James 22, giving Saint Jude their first legitimate scoring opportunity.  However, a clipping penalty on first down and four consecutive passes which gained a net total of one yard ended that threat.  The ugliness continued, as Saint James was forced to punt again and Caver returned the kick to the Trojan 47.  Finally, the Pirates dented the scoreboard several plays later.  After an 11 yard run for a first down and an offensive penalty, Saint Jude had first and 15 on the Trojan 27.  From there, Caver looked for Robinson in the endzone and found him for a 27 yard catch and run touchdown.  Caver called his own number for a two point conversion run, and with only 68 seconds remaining until halftime, the Pirates were up 8 - 0.

A costly ineligible receiver penalty on Saint James negated a long reception by Robertson, but the Trojans managed to make two first downs despite the Pirates using their remaining timeouts in an effort to get a second scoring chance before halftime.  However, the Pirates' next scoring chance came quickly to start the third quarter as a fumbled snap on first down was recovered by Saint Jude at the Trojan 17.  After a short reception, a penalty (imagine that), and a sack, the Pirates had third and 24 from the 31.  Caver displayed his scrambling ability to the finest as he wound around and through potential tacklers for a 31 yard touchdown.  After two illegal procedure penalties, the two point conversion run from the 13 yard line failed, but Saint Jude was up 14 - 0 early in the third quarter.

After only a 10 yard return on a deep kickoff, the Trojans were far away from the endzone again.  They could not advance the ball, and the Pirates took over at the Saint James 42 to begin an unbelievably crazy drive.  After an incomplete pass and a timeout, Caver kept for 6, 15, 4, and 3 yards.  A one yard run gave the Pirates fourth and two from the Trojan 13.  After a Saint James timeout, Robinson ran for the first down, awarded as a result of a controversial spot and measurement, and the Pirates were only 11 yards away from another touchdown and likely locking up the game.  On the next play, Caver ran for an apparent touchdown, but an absolutely unnecessary clipping penalty at the one yard line resulted in a 15 yard step off.  A run which lost two yards, a delay of game penalty, and an incomplete pass gave Saint Jude third and 22 from the 23.  Caver appeared to have thrown another touchdown pass, but a chop block was called, making it third down and 39 from the 40.  After an incomplete pass, Saint Jude decided to try a fake punt on fourth and 39, but Caver was stopped just past the line of scrimmage, and the Trojans took over after a crazy sequence.

For one play.  A lost fumble, one of four by Saint James, gave the Pirates the ball back immediately.  A 14 yard run on first down was followed by a 4 yard loss and two incomplete passes.  On fourth down from the 29, another Caver touchdown pass was negated by an offensive pass interference penalty.  However, confusion and anger erupted because the loss of down which was thought to accompany the penalty was not enforced by the referees, reasons unknown, giving Saint Jude a fifth down and a chance to punt.  Saint James, still not ready to play, muffed the punt and was lucky to recover on their own 4 yard line.

After Smith carried for 11 yards, a very dubious personal foul penalty (which elicited the call of 'make-up', perhaps justifiably, from the Pirate faithful) was added, and the Trojans were out to their own 30.  Several plays later, the wild third quarter ended with the Pirates still shutting out the Trojans by 14.  The teams traded punts, and with under 10 minutes remaining, the Trojans started once more on their own 20.  After three minimal gains, perhaps the Trojans were signalling a surrender when they decided to punt, but the Pirates had 13 men on the field for the play.  Two of them, the receivers, got in each others way and muffed the punt.  Saint James recovered near midfield, not needing the too many men on the field penalty, but the ball was brought back to the Trojan 41 after it was ruled the muffed punt had been advanced by a Trojan.  From there, Saint James finally caught fire.  Robertson receptions for 10 and 9 yards were followed by Smith runs of 14 and 9.  After a timeout and two plays which netted a gain of zero, the Trojans had fourth down and 1.  Smith carried for three yards and the first down to the Pirate 14.  Robertson caught an Olsen pass, stepping out just short of the goal line on the next play, and then Olsen snuck in from the foot line for the first Saint James score of the evening.  The extra point by Rick Fidel cut the lead in half with still 5:47 remaining in regulation.

Having been burned on returns all game and all season, Saint James intentionally kicked off out of bounds and the Pirates elected to take the ball on their own 35 in hopes of running out the clock.  Three runs lost a net of three yards, and the Trojans called their final timeout with over four minutes remaining.  The booming punt was returned by McMillan deftly to midfield, and Saint James was in business again.

Three consecutive Smith runs advanced the ball to the Saint Jude 43.  On fourth down, Smith caught a screen pass for eight yards.  On the next play, McMillan took the handoff which was beautifully faked to Smith and the entire Pirate defense was fooled.  McMillan raced virtually untouched 35 yards for a touchdown.  Fidel's extra point had the Trojan sideline going wild as Saint James had overcome a 14 point deficit to tie.  However, nearly 2½ minutes were still remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Trojans surprised nearly everyone with an onside kick attempt, but the Pirates recovered at their own 43.  A penalty, two incomplete passes, and an 11 yard completion to Robinson left Saint Jude fourth and four just short of midfield.  The pass was deflected incomplete, and Saint James, with no timeouts, had 2:01 remaining and only half the field to drive for a winning score.  After an incomplete pass and a penalty, Olsen kept for 9 yards.  However, a holding penalty on the next play wiped out what would have been a first down run for Smith.  Smith did pick up seven on third down, but an incomplete pass on fourth down gave the ball back to Saint Jude with 54 seconds left.

Everyone thought the Pirates would play for overtime, but on first down Caver attempted a pass downfield which was intercepted by Taylor Sommerville, and he returned it all the way from the Trojan 42 to the Pirate 28.  With no timeouts remaining, the Trojans tried the fake handoff deception again.  This time, McMillan was stopped in the backfield for a 5 yard loss.  After a quick recovery to the line of scrimmage, a short pass to Robertson was incomplete.  With only 2 seconds remaining, Saint James called a very conservative quarterback run allowing the clock to expire and overtime was to begin.

Saint Jude won the crucial coin toss and elected to play defense first.  It took Saint James only two plays, Smith runs of 9 and 1 yards, for the Trojans to take their first lead of the game.  In the Pirate frustration after the go-ahead touchdown, Smith ran for a two point conversion and the Trojans were up 22 - 14.  It took just as long, or as short, for the Pirates to tie the game.  Caver kept for 7 and 3 yards for the Pirate score.  After a defensive offside penalty moved the ball to the 1½ yard line, Caver again kept for the two point conversion, and a 22 - 22 score directed both teams to the second overtime.

The Pirates had the first offensive possession, but lost one yard on three plays.  Clausell Mathis, an offensive lineman, was called on to attempt a field goal, the first placement kick of any kind Saint Jude had tried, but it failed, leaving the door open for any Saint James score to win the ballgame.  However, disaster struck on first down as the ball was knocked away from the rusher Smith at the four yard line and fallen on by Saint Jude, quickly ending the second overtime with the same score as the first.

Saint James again received the ball on the 10 yard line to begin the third overtime as players on both sides were obviously dragging.  An Olsen pass went incomplete on first down.  On second down, Smith got the handoff and kept the ball in possession as he crossed the goal line for the touchdown.  However, this time, Smith was stopped short on a two point conversion run and the Trojans had only a 6 point lead.  It was difficult, but the Pirates managed to score a touchdown as well on their third overtime possession.  After their timeout, Caver was sacked for a four yard loss on first down and threw an incompletion on second down.  On third down, a three yard run which was nearly a ten yard loss left Saint Jude with a desperation fourth and goal from the 8.  Similar to the scoring play in the second quarter, what seemed hours ago by then, Caver found Robinson who fought off defenders for the eight yard touchdown reception, tying the game.  The Pirates opted not for the conversion run, but perhaps surprisingly for the kick attempt.  Mathis barely got the ball over the defensive line, and the crossbar for that matter, but it went between the uprights and Saint Jude had pulled off a victory, their first ever over the Trojans, in a turnover and penalty-ridden slopfest.

SAINT JAMES   RUSHING    53 attempts  248 yards  4 TDs  (4.68 yards per carry)

                            7   Smith        29 / 133  (1 TD)   19   McMillan      7 / 53  (1 TD)    17   Olsen         13 / 50  (1 TD)
                          21   Harris          2 /    9                32   Meadows      2 /  3

                          PASSING      9 completions  19 attempts  0 INTs  75 yards  0 TDs

                          17   Olsen        9 - 19 - 0   75 yards

                          RECEIVING

                          44   Robertson     6 / 60                 7    Smith           3 / 15

                          TOTAL YARDS:   323