‘They just don’t quit.’ D’Iberville gets over the hump vs. Petal with a last-minute TD.
Facing 4th and 6 at Petal 19 and trailing 31-27 with 45 seconds remaining, the D’Iberville football team’s perfect season was in danger of coming to an early end in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs.
D’Iberville coach Larry Dolan weighed his options for his biggest play call of the season.
“When you get into those situations, all your plays start running together and I had all sorts of ideas,” Dolan said.
He eventually settled on a call he’s gone to many times through the Warriors’ 10 games — Flood left pass.
“I said, ‘Let’s just do what we do and see what happens,’” Dolan said.
Senior quarterback Dwight Williams lifted the perfect toss to senior receiver Kenneth Irving, who raced past a defensive back into the left corner of the end zone.
“I was supposed to run a corner route and the corner bit on my break so I knew I was going to be open,” Irving said. “I looked at (Williams) and I threw up my hand. He saw me, threw the ball and I was focused on the catch no matter what happened.”
Even a push from Petal senior defensive back C.J. Smith, who was called for interference on the play, didn’t prevent Irving from hauling in the pass.
“I was just so locked in on the catch I didn’t even feel it,” Irving said.
The extra point failed, but D’Iberville’s 33-31 lead held up as Petal never quite got into field goal position on the game’s final drive.
An interception on the final play by D’Iberville senior cornerback Daunte Taylor set off a celebration among the D’Iberville faithful.
“They just don’t quit,” Dolan said, his voice cracking with emotion. “Just a lot of heart, a lot of soul. I’m proud of them. I really am.”
D’Iberville improved to 10-0 and will again be on its home field in the second round of the playoffs on Nov. 20 when Northwest Rankin (8-3) travels south for a game to decide who advances to Class 6A South State.
Justin Walley shines again for D’Iberville
D’Iberville got another MVP performance from senior running back/defensive Justin Walley, who carried 15 times for 182 yards and three touchdowns.
The Minnesota commit’s 19-yard TD run with 7 minutes left cut the Petal lead to 24-20 with 7 minutes remaining, but Petal still seemed to have the momentum at that point. The Panthers had mostly owned the second half up to that point thanks to some uncharacteristic penalties and blown assignments on defense by D’Iberville, allowing Petal, which trailed 14-10 at the half, to piece together a pair of long touchdown drives.
Petal’s momentum stalled on its second snap after the Walley touchdown when D’Iberville junior defensive end Kam Williams tipped a pass by quarterback Jackson Allen and senior defensive back Raymond Lias grabbed the ball out of the air on his way to a 47-yard touchdown return.
“All glory to God. I took it to the house,” Lias said.
The big play by Lias lifted the lid on what had been a tense and chippy second half, sending the D’Iberville grandstand into a frenzy.
“It was crazy … the whole stadium,” Lias said. “You probably could hear it for miles and miles. We were going to crazy. It was an amazing atmosphere.”
D’Iberville led 27-24 with 5:51 remaining.
Petal again had an answer with Petal senior running back Jeremiah Robinson, a Southern Miss commit, running 3 yards into the end zone for 2:38 left earn his third TD of the game and hand the Panthers a 31-27 lead.
But the Warriors had the final say in the outcome, going 65 yards on nine plays in 1:53 for the winning score. A roughing the passer call on Petal helped out, allowing the Warrors to move to he Panthers’ 24.
D’Iberville football finally gets past 1st round
Friday night’s game was D’Iberville’s first playoff victory since 2014 when it beat Meridian 14-13 in the first round.
Petal had eliminated D’Iberville three times in the first round in the last 8 years — 2013, ‘16 and ‘17.
“We finally advanced to Round 2,” Lias said. “They said we couldn’t do it, and we proved them wrong.
“The Coast is coming up.”
D’Iberville hasn’t reached the South State round in football since it made it to the Class 4A state title game in 2008, losing 12-10 to Noxubee County.
Williams completed 11 of 13 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown. Junior fullback Dre Lenior added 64 yards on 15 carries.
This story was originally published November 14, 2020 at 12:31 AM.
