Barbe fans got their usual 48 minutes of excitement, but not the storybook ending as Mandeville’s Parker Pastorella drilled a 38-yard field goal on the final play of the game to give the Skippers a 24-21 win over the Bucs in a Class 5A regional-round game.

The Skippers (9-3) will host Acadiana in the quarterfinal round next week.

Barbe rallied from a 21-7 deficit with two long, second-half scoring drives, tying the score on a 5-yard run by Darrian Gumbs with 4:08 remaining.

The Bucs defense stopped Mandeville on the ensuing possession, but the Bucs were stopped on a third-and-3 play to give the Skippers the ball at their own 39 with 2:01 remaining.

Quarterback Parker Orgeron and running back Codie Nye gained 53 yards on seven consecutive rushing plays to move the ball to the Barbe 20.

Pastorella’s kick was good with ease.

“I have to give the credit to the offensive line for blocking and the ballcarriers for running hard,” said Mandeville head coach Guy LeCompte of the winning drive.

“We are fortunate we did not get stopped. We had some drives stall with holding penalties, but that was a clean drive. We hit them with some big plays early on, then they took those away a bit in the second half.”

Orgeron finished with 157 yards rushing and all three Mandeville touchdowns. It was his first game back after missing several games with injury.

Orgeron dominated the first half, scoring three rushing touchdowns and running for 112 yards on seven carries.

He opened the scoring by taking a zone-read keeper 59 yards for a score midway through the first quarter.

He doubled Mandeville’s lead late in the quarter, scoring from 6 yards out after spinning out of a sack in the backfield, running all the way across the field, then powering through several defenders for the final 3 yards.

Barbe narrowed the lead to 14-7 early in the second quarter when Kirkland Banks took a swing pass from Gavin Nettles 11 yards for a touchdown down the left sideline. The touchdown was the last time Banks touched the ball. He sat out the remainder of the game with an injury.

Orgeron answered four plays later, keeping the ball on an option play toward the left sideline, cutting back toward the middle of the field and outrunning the Bucs defense to the end zone to give Mandeville a 21-7 halftime lead.

“We knew he was their man; we were keying on him,” said Barbe head coach Mike Cutrera. “We just started tackling better in the second half.”

Khoury Kraus scored on a 4-yard run late in the third quarter to pull the Bucs within 21-14 late in the first half.

The two Barbe scoring drives were of 16 plays, then 14 plays.

“Our line blocked well, Gavin threw the ball well and we ran it pretty well,” Cutrera said.

“Kirkland went down and Darrian stepped up. I can’t be any more proud of our seniors. To be district champs and be 9-3 is remarkable. With this group, you knew you were going to get your money’s worth. It was going to be a 48-minute game, they were going to fight. That’s what we did tonight, they just got the ball last and made that field goal.”(Rick Hickman/American Press)