The season was on the line for the Father Gabriel Richard High School football team. The 1-yard-line, to be exact.

Leading 18-14 with less than a minute remaining in its Division 5 regional final Saturday afternoon, the Fighting Irish needed the biggest goal line stand of the year.

But Olivet quarterback Jay Cousineau snuck across the goal line on third down. The 26 seconds remaining weren't enough for Gabriel Richard to counter in its heartbreaking 21-18 home-field loss.

The Irish trailed by as much as 14-0 midway through the second quarter before scoring 18 unanswered points to take a brief fourth quarter lead.

“I’m proud of my guys for being able to come back and eventually take the lead,” said Gabriel Richard coach Brian Lemons. “Just at the end there, someone had to win it. My hat’s off to (Olivet).”

Olivet (10-2) blocked an Irish (10-2) field goal attempt on their first possession and the Eagles turned around and orchestrated a 5-minute, 13-play drive ending in Tanner McCarn's 4-yard touchdown pass from Cousineau.

After an Irish punt on the ensuing possession, Cousineau capped off a two-minute drive that carried into the second quarter with a 1-yard sneak to put the Eagles up 14-0 early in the second.

Cousineau completed 18-of-31 attempts for a game-high 185 yards.

“It’s tough because we were pretty evenly matched,” said Gabriel Richard senior quarterback Don Eaton, who finished with 134 passing yards and 43 yards rushing. “We thought we had the edge. But, we started off slow.

“Everybody was looking around saying, ‘Nobody panic, nobody panic. We got this, we got this.'”

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