By MATT VINES, Journal Sports
When the last second of the first quarter ticked away, Kaleb Tucker was celebrating a 34-yard touchdown catch with his teammates.
That was Calvary’s fifth touchdown of the first quarter (and Tucker’s second), as the Cavaliers wasted no time in putting away North Caddo 63-6 in the regular-season finale at Jerry Barker Stadium Friday night.
Calvary (8-2, 7-0 District 1-2A) sprinted away from North Caddo to secure its seventh straight win and 64th consecutive district victory.
“Everything went well for us tonight – we threw it and ran it like we wanted to,” said Calvary coach Rodney Guin. “We were sharp from the get go, which is I wanted to see.
“Last week, we were sloppy in the first quarter.”
The No. 3 Cavs (in the Division III Select power ratings) won’t climb from their No. 2 spot in the LSWA 2A Top 10 after Isidore Newman squeaked out a win, but the Cavs will have a first-round bye regardless.
That pause might be longer than a week. Friday, the Louisiana High School Athletic Association announced it would delay issuing its usual round of playoff brackets on Sunday pending resolution of a lawsuit by University High of Baton Rouge, which was unbeaten before an LHSAA ruling over use of ineligible players resulted in eight games being forfeited. That would deny the Cubs a spot in the playoffs; a hearing is scheduled for Nov. 18, although both sides are hoping that could happen sometime next week.
That was a factor in Guin’s evaluation of the defending state champions’ performance Friday night.
“Because we know we’re not playing until two weeks or maybe even three with what’s going on right now, it was big for us to play like this,” Guin said. “We played our starters until the first series of the second half because of this because we felt like we needed to get a few more plays in.”
Quarterback Abram Wardell threw five touchdowns passes, three to Tucker, en route to a 56-0 lead early in the third quarter. Daylen Wilson and Braylon Huglon caught Wardell’s other two scores.
James Simon IV started the scoring with an 8-yard touchdown run, and Julius Moss added two TD runs in Calvary’s first four scores.
Green Oaks 38, Magnolia School of Excellence 0: Green Oaks ended its season just the way it started – with a win.
The Giants scored 30 points in the first half and coasted past the Mariners.
The playoffs are likely out of reach for Green Oaks (2-8, 1-5 District 1-2A), who entered the game No. 35 in Division III Non-Select.
Although the Giants were competitive against larger and more established programs as part of a difficult schedule, all eight of Green Oaks’ losses came by 10 points or more.
Magnolia (0-9) suffered its fifth shutout this season.
Pickering 46, Plain Dealing 0: Pickering scored all 46 of its points in the first half as Plain Dealing ended its season winless Friday, falling for the 35th consecutive time dating back to 2021.
After the Lions nearly ended their winless streak in the season-opener in a 16-14 loss to Tensas, Plain Dealing (0-10) didn’t manage a point in the remaining nine games. The Lions were forced to forfeit their Week 8 visit to Jonesboro-Hodge because 11 healthy players were not available.
Pickering won its fourth game of the season after ending its own lengthy losing streak coming into the year.
Contact Matt at sports@journalservicesllc.com