Class 2A powers John Curtis, Evangel turn back ranked foes

Perennial Class 2A powers Curtis (River Ridge) and Evangel Christian Academy (Shreveport) reaffirmed their status with convincing victories over previously unbeaten opponents last week.

No. 1 John Curtis upped its record to 7-1 overall in beating fourth-ranked St. Charles Catholic (LaPlace). No. 3 Evangel moved to 5-2 with its 34-7 drubbing of third-ranked Calvary Christian (Shreveport).

Running back Torrey Pierce returned from an elbow injury that had sidelined him for three games to pace a powerful John Curtis rushing attack with 131 yards and two touchdowns. In all, the Patriots rushed for 389 yards and four touchdowns. Conversely, St. Charles was limited to 27 yards rushing.

Pierce scored on runs of 15 and 23 yards, with the latter coming on the heels of Marcus Hall's 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that reduced the Patriots’ lead to 14-13 at the start of the third quarter.



Spurred by Pierce’s second score, the Patriots methodically pulled away from St. Charles Catholic to improve to 5-0 in District 9-2A. St. Charles Catholic, which lost to John Curtis twice last season, including 27-0 in the state semifinals, fell to 7-1 and 4-1. John Curtis is idle this week before completing its district schedule against what appears to be outmanned Lusher.

As for Evangel, it intercepted three passes in dismantling a team that had been averaging 50.3 points per game. In the process, Evangel improved its district record to 53-0 at Shreveport’s Rodney Duron Field.

Evangel took over the District 1-2A lead at 3-0, while Calvary Christian fell to 7-1 overall and 2-1 in district. Evangel quarterback David Dee Duron completed 15 of 21 passes for 180 yards and three touchdowns. He threw a pair of 14-yard touchdown passes to Judah Jones and a 6-yard touchdown pass to Trent Taylor.

Two-way starter Dionte McDuffy carried nine times for 123 of the Eagles’ 254 yards rushing. McDuffy also returned a third-quarter interception 72 yards.

REED, DUTCHTOWN TURN BACK HAHNVILLE
In a Class 5A battle between ranked teams, No. 3 Dutchtown (Geismar) remained undefeated with a 13-10 victory over eighth-ranked Hahnville. Dutchtown’s Effrem Reed rushed 25 times for 267 yards and scored on runs of 86 and 31 yards. The Griffins improved to 8-0 overall and 3-0 in District 6-5A. Hahnville fell to 5-2 and 2-1.

"I thought it was a great effort by our defense and our offensive line,” Dutchtown coach Benny Saia said. “We battled all night, so did they.”



Dutchtown held the ball for the final 6:41, helped along by Reed’s 5-yard run that gave the Griffins a critical first down with three minutes left. Hahnville’s Ahmad White carried 28 times for 102 yards and scored his team’s only touchdown.

ACADIANA RUNS OVER SULPHUR
As much as other teams put together impressive rushing totals, fifth-ranked Acadiana (Lafayette) of Class 5A topped them all with 501 yards rushing in its 75-14 District 3-5A victory over Sulphur.

Micah Eugene led the way with 10 carries for 209 yards and four touchdowns. Ryan Bergeron added nine carries for 100 yards. Vinice Prejean's 62 yards came on three carries and included a 53-yard touchdown run.

Acadiana jumped to a 49-7 halftime lead en route to improving its records to 7-1 overall and 3-0 in district.
Sulphur’s Keith Jasmine was no match for Acadiana’s onslaught, but he did lead his team with 19 carries for 91 yards.

FOURNETTE RETURNS WITH TWO TDs
Freshman sensation Leonard Fournette, who missed a game and a half with a bruised knee, returned from his absence by rushing for 147 yards and two touchdowns in a 21-14 St. Augustine (New Orleans) victory over Brother Martin (Metairie). Fournette, who carried 26 times, scored on third-quarter runs of 12 and 4 yards for the sixth-ranked Purple Knights of Class 5A.

Brother Martin running back Dante’ Butler countered with 27 carries for 133 yards and Brother Martin’s two touchdowns on runs of 5 and 38 yards. The victory allowed St. Augustine to remain in contention for its first Catholic League championship since 1995.



VETERAN COACH DAUTERIVE RESIGNS
Undefeated East St. John (Reserve), ranked sixth in Class 5A, beat Destrehan by a 49-14 score without veteran coach Larry Dauterive, who resigned in the wake of controversial comments he had made earlier in the week.

Dauterive resigned after a meeting on the morning of the game with St. John the Baptist Parish Schools Superintendent Courtney Millet. Offensive coordinator Ron Barrilleaux was named interim coach and guided East St. John to records of 7-0 overall and 2-0 in District 6-5A.

Dauterive offended some parents and school board members, who complained to Millet after Dauterive's comments at a New Orleans Quarterback Club luncheon. Dauterive, who is white, coached in a heavily populated African-American area that he referred to as the “Gaza Strip.” Dauterive said he was a father figure to many of his players who came from single-parent households and struggled academically.

Dauterive served a one-game suspension last year after some players said he used a racial slur in a halftime speech. Dauterive explained that he was just telling the players what fans in the stands had been saying about the team.

Dauterive produced a 65-22 overall record in eight-plus seasons at East St. John, which won two district titles and made four trips to the state quarterfinals under his watch. His 2006 team finished the regular season undefeated. In 26 years as a Louisiana high school coach, Dauterive amassed a record of 234-78-1.