Justin Weyenberg punched his shot past Catholic’s Jude Stewart, turned to the Bears’ fans and pumped his fists.

By Bradley Handwerger / WWL-TV.com

Brother Martin's Tyler Broussard (11) battles with a Catholic player over the ball during the second round match between the two.

Weyenberg’s Brother Martin teammates rushed the field, certainly heading to the Crusaders’ senior whose goal pushed his team into the Division I quarterfinals with a 4-3 second round shootout victory over Catholic of Baton Rouge.

Instead, they passed the forward on their way to Hunter LeBlanc, the unlikely hero in goal.

Unlikely because he represented Brother Martin’s third-string keeper after starter Justin Figley was red-carded early in the game and backup Nathan Dean left injured.

Unlikely because after playing nearly 80 percent of the game in the field, he took over in goal for good in the second of four overtimes and proceeded to stop three penalty kicks, one of which came in overtime.

“I just prayed,” a speechless LeBlanc said shortly after the game. “That’s all I could do. I just got lucky.”

For LeBlanc, you could call it redemption, Brother Martin head coach Louie Smothermon said. “It’s great for him because we had lost a few PK shootouts,” he said. “He had missed a few PK’s, made a few, missed a few. For him to come up now in the playoffs and do it big – (that’s) great for him as a senior.”

Brother Martin took the first kick in the shootout and Adam Bayer calmly put the ball past Stewart. Up walked Catholic’s Jack Hymel. Seconds later, he walked back a defeated man after LeBlanc stopped his shot.

Next for the Crusader’s was Tyler Broussard, who also relaxingly got the ball past Stewart. This time, Daniel Grammer walked to the spot for the Crusaders, and again another Bear walked back head hanging after another LeBlanc stop.

LeBlanc traded positions for the third kick, but the result was the same for Brother Martin – a 3-0 lead. All LeBlanc needed to do to secure the win was stop Catholic’s Danny Hausse, but Hausse got past LeBlanc.

That put the pressure on Weyenberg. All he needed to do was make his PK and Brother Martin would advance. He converted, and Brother Martin’s bench erupted.

But LeBlanc was no doubt the MVP. Not once did LeBlanc complain about being thrust into such a tough position in what could possibly have been his last game as a Crusader.

“To me, what was so amazing about it was how composed he was – stepping up, taking the responsibility and playing the position like he felt like that’s where he needed to be today for us to win,” Smothermon said.

By Bradley Handwerger / WWL-TV.com

Catholic keeper Jude Stewart nudges the ball over the crossbar as Brother Martin's Justin Weyenberg (3) and Kenneth Schiffman (6) as well as Catholic's Sean Cotton (14) watch. The save kept the Crusaders up only one goal in the their eventual 4-3 second round shootout win on Brother Martin's campus Thursday afternoon.

This game was one those watching on Brother Martin’s campus will talk about for a good while. On top of LeBlanc’s three stops, there were three ties and two game-tying goals in the waning minutes of regulation and overtime.

“I’ve been doing this for a good while and this is the wildest game I’ve ever been associated with,” Catholic head coach Bo Cassidy said. “It’s pretty tough.”

It took fewer than five minutes for the visiting Bears (13-8-3) to take a 1-0 lead. They used speed to get it done, taking advantage of a misshapen Brother Martin defense via a counter-attack.

Catholic’s Robert Brown sped past the Brother Martin (14-7-2) fullbacks and nudged the ball under Figley.

Nearly 13 minutes later, Catholic nearly took a 2-0 lead when the Bears’ Matthew Zito had a shot bound past Figley and off the near post.

Seven minutes later, the look of the game changed.

Figley dove to stop a ball at the edge of the penalty box, but it went past him. While rolling on the ground, he managed to trip up a Catholic forward. Whether there was intent or not, the center official awarded Figley a red and the keeper was forced to sit out the rest of the game. Brother Martin also had to play a man down for the final 84 minutes of the game, including overtime and the shootout.

“It’s funny what a red card can do, but psychologically, it can take you either way,” Cassidy said. “We took our foot off the pedal a little bit, thinking we’re a man up and a goal up.

“Now they’re going to come out more emotional.”

That emotion didn’t happen until the second half, however. The Crusaders came out with high pressure and intensity to begin the final 40 minutes and it paid off 14 minutes in when Jordan Scott one-timed Kenneth Schiffman’s cross past Catholic’s Stewart.

Suddenly, the game was tied 1-1 and momentum was firmly in Brother Martin’s pocket. Nearly 10 minutes later, Michael Paternostro dribbled through the Catholic defense in the box and knocked the ball past Stewart for a 2-1 lead.

Brother Martin, though, could not hold on, and Catholic put the game into overtime in stoppage time when Ryan Berryhill’s free kick from 30 yards out sailed past Dean.

The Crusaders took a 3-2 lead in the second of two 10-minute overtimes when Weyenberg cleaned up a poor clearance from the Bears’ back third of the field. And again Catholic came back, this time when Brown split two defenders and knocked the ball past Dean, who was injured on the play.

He wouldn’t return, and minutes later, with LeBlanc in goal, Catholic earned a penalty kick with precious little time left on the clock. LeBlanc stopped Berryhill’s kick, however, pushing the game into two golden goal overtimes which eventually led to the shootout.

And that led to LeBlanc’s heroics.

“We really felt like we would do well in this game and were confident going in,” Smothermon said. “For us to get into the quarterfinals, it’s where we exited last year against Jesuit. We feel like we’re going to be in the final.”