High school football fans were treated to a fantastic opening game Friday night in Slidell between the Tigers of Holy Cross and the Tigers of Slidell High.

SHS used a late touchdown in the first half to seize momentum from Holy Cross and then made big plays in the second half to capture 25-21 victory.

Senior running back Jonathan Miles led the way for SHS with 207 yards rushing and three total TDs. 

Slidell quarterback Bradley Myers looks downfield for a receiver during Friday’s opener against Holy Cross at home. (Photo by Shannon Diecidue)

Miles scored his first on a nine-yard run on Slidell’s opening drive of the game. Miles’ TD run capped off an 11-play 66-yard drive and gave SHS a 7-0 lead.

It didn’t take Holy Cross long to answer. After a good kickoff return gave them excellent starting field position, it took only two plays to tie the game at 7-7. QB Ryan Deemes completed passes of 17 and 33 yards to wide receiver Taylor Eymard. The latter was a high arcing pass in the corner of the end zone resulting in the TD.

Holy Cross again used big plays early in the second quarter, as Deemes connected with Joel Pichon on a 47-yard pass, setting them up with a first-and-goal inside Slidell’s five. Darryl Watson took a handoff on first down and put it in the end zone, giving Holy Cross a 14-7 lead with a little over 10 minutes to play until halftime. Holy Cross went up 21-7 with 3:25 left.

Slidell appeared to have stopped Holy Cross after a Deemes screen pass attempt fell incomplete.  After the play, Slidell was penalized 15 yards for roughing the passer, then subsequently penalized another 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. After the penalty yardage was marked off, Holy Cross regained possession at SHS’ 18. Deemes passed to Watson for an 11-yard gain, setting up first-and-goal at SHS’ seven. Deemes scored on the next play on a keeper. 

Down by 14 points, and dealing with plenty of adversity, head coach Artie Liuzza’s Slidell Tigers took the next possession and drove down to score a TD with eight-seconds left in the first half. Using the wildcat formation, Miles ripped off runs of 15, 11 and 20 yards to set the pace for the drive. Quarterback Bradley Myers also scrambled for 10 yards and a first down on a key third-and-seven. Miles’ running mate Stephon Smith capped off the drive with a four-yard scoring run on a third-and-goal play. SHS missed the extra point and trailed 21-13. 

“There were some key passes that we completed earlier in the game that set up what we wanted to do on that drive”, Liuzza said. 

“We struggled with adversity in the past, but we were able to turn it around this game,” Liuzza added.

SHS carried the momentum of the late TD in the first half into the second and Miles was poised to explode.  Taking a page out of Holy Cross’ first half scoring drives, Slidell and Miles showed some big play ability of their own. On the first play of their opening possession of the second half, Miles ran 80 yards for a touchdown, cutting the Holy Cross lead to 21-19, as the two point conversion attempt failed.

Miles then put SHS up for good when he took a short swing pass from Myers and turned it into a 65 yard catch and run, making numerous Holy Cross defenders miss in the process. 

“Coach Liuzza stresses second effort,” Miles said. 

Miles totaled over 270 all-purpose yards in the game and credited his offensive line as the reason for his production. 

Miles stated, “Without the offensive line, we could not get as far as we did.”

The SHS defense, which was torched by Deemes and the Holy Cross passing game in the first half, held its ground in the second half not allowing a single point.  Defensive lineman Gavin Toussaint, who had a sack and tackle for a loss in the game, led the defensive surge.

Deemes was solid for Holy Cross in the loss passing for 318 yards and a touchdown.  He added 51 yards rushing to go along with his rushing TD as well.

Slidell stays home next week to take on Salmen, who defeated Northshore 50-7 on Friday night.