The Hammerheads improved to 10-3 and clinched second place in the Intense Football League with a 70-54 victory over the Barracudas on Saturday night at Central Pavilion Arena.
Needing a win to improve their shot at a first-round playoff bye, the Barracudas finished the regular season 8-6, good enough for third place.
“They played their hearts out and left everything on the field,” Barracudas coach Chris Duliban said of his team. “And the ball just didn’t bounce our way tonight.”
That was because the Hammerheads seemingly got every good bounce, every close call and, of course, the help of a very vocal fan base.
What resulted was an ugly finish to an otherwise superb game. The Barracudas racked up several personal fouls along with several late ejections.
“We talked about it all week,” Duliban said of the atmosphere. “This is a high-intensity place and it’s real tight with the fans right on you. We worked all week on throwing flags when no penalties were there just to get them ready for this. We can see why the Hammerheads win here, because they feel comfortable playing here.”
The Hammerheads’ 12th consecutive home win began to become a reality late in the third quarter with the Barracudas leading 42-41 and looking to expand their edge.
It looked as if the Barracudas were about to get the ball back as the Hammerheads faced a fourth-and-10 situation from the CenTex 20-yard line, but quarterback Dustin Almond found Nathaniel Dunn just ahead of defender Rolandus Johnson and connected for a touchdown and a 48-42 lead.
Then the Barracudas, whose offense seemingly had been unstoppable all night, suddenly were stopped. At the same spot the Hammerheads had been and also on fourth down, quarterback James Brown felt heavy pressure and put up a desperation pass that fell out of bounds.
On the next play Almond hit Dunn again in the corner of the end zone and the Hammerheads led 56-42 with just under 10 minutes left.
But Duliban didn’t see that as the turning point.
“We were getting pressure on Dustin and felt like we had things going our way,” Duliban said. “This is a game of offense and they are going to get big plays.”
Indeed, the teams traded scores again. Brown found receiver Olan Coleman for two touchdowns, and in between Almond scored on a draw play.
But what ultimately might have been the difference came after Coleman’s final TD reception, which cut the Hammerheads’ lead to 63-54. The Barracudas had to go for the two-point conversion, which failed when Brown was sacked.
But after the play, the Hammerheads were slow to get off Brown and several skirmishes occurred on the field, the main one being near the Barracudas’ players box.
Several CenTex players came onto the field and joined in the skirmish, earning automatic ejections, forcing the Barracudas to use a makeshift lineup for the final two minutes.
“I just think that when we started feeling like we were in control of the game, our emotions started coming out,” Duliban said. “Once the emotions are high, it’s easy to lose control of those emotions. And so I felt like that was what happened.
“We had things rolling our way, then one or two things happen and it snowballed.”
Hammerheads captain Ray Salas added it was more about taking the Barracudas out of their gameplan than it was trying to get under their skin.
“We had started out slow, giving up plays we shouldn’t have on offense and defense,” he said. “We came out in the second half and got them out of their rhythm. We started making them go four downs every time instead of just one big play, and when they had to go four downs it hurt them and they couldn’t finish off a drive.”
After the ejections, Almond, who completed 17 of 33 passes for 209 yards and four TDs, found Terrance Pearson with less than 2 minutes left and the Barracudas fumbled on their final possession to seal the outcome.
For the Barracudas, Brown finished 17-of-30 for 124 yards and five touchdowns - four to Coleman, who led the team with nine catches for 78 yards.
Now the Barracudas will have a week off and have to wait until next Sunday to learn their playoff opponent. As the third-place team, CenTex earned the right to host a first-round game but likely won’t be able to because Bell County Expo Center in Belton is occupied through the July 4 weekend.
Duliban said he might extend the Barracudas’ off time even more.
“I’m thinking about giving them this week off,” he said. “They’ve been working hard without complaining for 14 straight weeks. So I may let them go home, see their families for a week and let this loss fade.”
The Hammerheads will host undefeated Louisiana next week but still are looking forward to the bye afterward.
“It’s huge coming off a two-game slide and letting us know that we still are a top team,” Salas said. “We will get to rest our bodies and our legs, but most importantly we get to host a playoff game. We didn’t care about (CenTex). Tonight was all about what was going to happen in the playoffs."
mhood@temple-telegram.com
