well I got it working, for anyone else looking to do this, I had to modify the /includes/modules/product_listing.php page to tack on the description as a new array column, (i just called it column 10 because i knew it was out in the middle of nowhere but im sure you could have just appended it to the end arbitrarily, but if i set it at column 10 i could call it back out directly later)
at the same time, i deleted the description line out of the title&description column so it was just a title column. then i had seperate title columns and description columns.

then going to the tpl_tabular_display.php, i completely deleted the loop that runs through the columns in what appeared to be the most complicated table loop ive ever seen, and just card coded the double row template that i wanted to repeat for each item...

thanks for pointing me to the right files.