It was a turbulent weekend in the five Louisiana Sports Writers Association Top 10 football polls, as 16 ranked teams went down to defeat.
Most notably, a pair of Nos. 1 suffered their first losses in three games, with
John Curtis (River Ridge) tumbling in Class 2A, and defending state champion
Haynesville falling to a bitter rival in Class 1A. Haynesville was among five of the first seven teams in the Class 1A poll to lose.
John Curtis actually lost to another top-ranked team in Class 4A’s
Salmen (Slidell), which held on to edge the Patriots, 28-21. Sparking the victory was defensive end T.J. Price, who returned a fumble 79 yards for a touchdown to give the Spartans a 21-7 lead at 7:22 of the third quarter.
"The first thing that came into my mind was scoop and score, so I scooped it," Price said. "I ran as fast as I could and hoped nobody caught me."
John Curtis immediately retaliated with quarterback Brandon Bourgeois capping a 68-yard drive with a 19-yard touchdown run. Salmen then responded with Joshua Adams’ 2-yard touchdown run at 10:21 of the third quarter.
The resilient Patriots came right back with a 41-yard scoring drive that featured Ike Spencer’s 2-yard touchdown run that cut Salmen’s lead to 28-21 at 7:17 of the fourth quarter.
Salmen managed to keep possession for nearly the rest of the game, as it drove 68 yards in 15 plays in taking 7:01 off the clock. When John Curtis finally got the ball back, there was only 16.3 seconds left, and the Patriots couldn’t mount a comeback.
As for Haynesville, it lost to
Homer, 20-12, which snapped its two-game losing streak in the 103-year-old rivalry.
After Haynesville scored twice in less than five minutes of the fourth quarter, Homer finally got the ball back on downs and ran out the game’s final four minutes.
Homer’s touchdowns came on running back Darien Dunn’s 46-yard scamper, quarterback Jarvis Morgan’s 3-yard run and fullback BoChristopher Williams’ 6-yard run.
Hill runs rampant againRedemptorist (Baton Rouge) senior running back
Jeremy Hill provided more proof that he is one of the state’s most productive runners in leading the second-ranked Wolves of Class 3A past Class 4A’s
Woodlawn (Baton Rouge), 35-24.
Hill rushed 23 times for 272 yards and three touchdowns to up his three-game total to 731 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. In the last two games, alone, he has rushed for 554 yards and seven touchdowns.
Hill scored on runs of 60, 42 and 75 yards with the final touchdown coming late in the fourth quarter to give the Wolves the lead.
Woodlawn junior quarterback Kendall Barnes led a rally with three touchdown passes that put the Panthers ahead, 24-21. Barnes finished 23 of 37 for 378 yards with an interception.
"Kendall is one heck of a football player," Woodlawn coach Don Jones said. "He threw for 17 touchdowns last year, and I’ve said all along he’s one of the best in Baton Rouge. (Wide receiver) Jameal Lofton put on quite a show…too."
Lofton caught nine passes for 166 yards and one touchdown. Teammate Dandre Cosby caught two touchdown passes, while Nick Taylor finished with eight receptions for 136 yards.
ASH pulls out improbable victorySenior quarterback Cameron Firnberg didn’t start the game, but he finished with a flourish, as his 1-yard touchdown run on the final play of the game lifted undefeated
Alexandria (3-0) past
Pineville, 34-31.
Alexandria scored two touchdowns in the last 35 seconds, with Firnberg having thrown a 4-yard touchdown pass to C.J. Catlin with time running out.
Alexandria then recovered the onside kick, and Firnberg completed two passes to sophomore Shaan Washington, including a 43-yarder that left ASH on the 1-yard line with 0.9 seconds. A Pineville player inexplicably called time out that stopped the clock and gave ASH time to set up for its winning score.
"It worked out for us," Firnberg said. "That's all that matters."
Firnberg, who entered the game on Alexandria's third offensive series, threw for 178 yards and three touchdowns.
McMain QB commits to TulaneMcMain (New Orleans) quarterback Brandon Lebeau committed to Tulane as an athlete after having rushed for more than 100 yards in his team’s first two games.
The 6-foot, 190-pound Lebeau averaged 8.6 yards per carry during that time and carried 14 times for 121 yards in McMain’s season opener.
Six of Tulane’s commitments are from the New Orleans area.
Volleyball: Mount Carmel wins this timeIn a rematch of last year’s Division 1-Class 5A state volleyball final, Mount Carmel Academy (New Orleans) defeated host and defending state champion St. Joseph’s Academy (Baton Rouge), 2-0 (25-17, 25-13), to win the Red-Hot Sticker Classic.
Mount Carmel had won its pool play with a 4-0 record, including a 2-0 (25-19, 25-15) semifinal victory over Cabrini (New Orleans). St. Joseph’s defeated St. Thomas More (Lafayette) in its semifinal, 2-1 (27-29, 25-12, 15-10) to win its pool play with a 3-1 record.
Mount Carmel’s Kaylynn Genemaras was named the tournament’s most valuable player for helping the Cubs to atone for last season’s state-final loss.
Joining Genemaras on the all-tournament team were teammate Victoria Boraski and St. Joseph’s Sarah Barber and Mckensey Lynchon. Also making the team were Taylor Zeigler of Cabrini, Lauren Levy and Michelle Bordes of Archbishop Chapelle (Metairie), Shellie Landry of St. Thomas More and JonMarie Guillory of St. Louis Catholic (Lake Charles).
