Union Parish's 2-point conversion holds off Lake Charles College Prep in 3A semifinals

Union Parish coach Joe Spatafora turned his back to the field as the offense lined up to run a two-point play.

Sophomore running back Trey Holly scored from the 1-yard line the play before to pull the Farmers within one point of Lake Charles College Prep with 20 seconds remaining. Everyone inside the near-capacity "Doc" Elliott Stadium on Friday night believed Holly would touch the ball on the point after attempt.

But UPHS offensive coordinator Brian Fine and Spatafora decided to go the unsuspecting route. Quarterback Cole Dison faked to Holly, rolled out the pocket and threw a strike to well-covered tight end Rykel Wallace to convert the game-winning conversion. 

The play lifted Union (12-0) past the Trailblazers, 43-42, in the Class 3A semifinals and to its first state championship appearance since 2013. The Bears will play Madison Prep on Dec. 30 at 1 p.m.

"Hell yeah I turned my back," Spatafora said. "I couldn't watch it.

"Once we got down there, I had already talked to coach Fine. I asked him what he wanted to do and he said, 'let's go for two.' A good offensive coordinator, trusting what you're doing. I was going to go for two, whether I faked an extra point or we were going to line up. Cole made a great throw and Rykel made a helluva catch."

A fumble from Dison allowed LCCP to take its first lead, 42-35, with 1:29 left when quarterback Dillon Simon threw his fifth touchdown of the game to Glynn Johnson. 

The Trailblazers' defense also bottled up Holly in the second half, paving the way for them to erase a 14-point deficit. Holly rushed for 133 yards in the first half, but was limited to 70 yards in the last two quarters.

Once Holly scored his third rushing touchdown to make it 42-41, Fine said he knew that LCCP's defense would anticipate the tailback dive. So he settled on a play Dison and the Union offense hadn't ran in a few weeks.

"We wanted to go for the win, playing at home. It was a called bootleg," Fine said. "People are going to load up to stop Trey. We had success running it inside. We have that bootleg to the short side and we just haven't ran it in a couple of weeks.

"I saw Rykel was open, but he was covered a little tighter than I thought he'd be. Cole made a great throw."