By LORI LYONS, Journal Sports
Down one score, Northwood seemed to be hanging in against a storied Destrehan program before a surge heading into halftime broke it open and the No. 7 Falcons fell 63-21 in Friday night’s Non-Select Division I second-round playoff game at Jerry Burton Stadium in Blanchard.
“Better team won,” Northwood coach Austin Brown said. “We just couldn’t get off the field against a big 5A school. They were able to outlast us, run the ball and get a lead that was hard to come back from.”
The Falcons, who scored a school playoff record 54 points last week, finished the year 10-2.
“A 10-win season is impressive, and it’s a tribute to our seniors. We appreciate them,” said Brown. “This team has earned everything it got. The normal guys played their tails off – Jayden White, John Sneed, Justin Thomas, and naturally Jaxon Bentzler was very good for us again – really the whole team. Our effort was tremendous. We were just a little short-handed there.”
Northwood hung in for much of the first half. After Destrehan opened a 13-0 advantage, the Falcons drove and scored on a fourth-down 20-yard throw from Benzler to Duntavious Young, leaping between Wildcats and making a well-defended catch. The visitors answered, but so did the home team, on a 2-yard Christian Blackmon plunge to draw within 20-14.
The Wildcats converted a third-and-long to sustain an ensuing series which produced another score and then stretched the lead to 35-14 at halftime. It never got closer.
The Falcons, a Class 4A team, went into Friday’s contest having given up only 18 points per game and had allowed only four passing touchdowns in the regular season.
But the Northwood defense got its toughest test against the speedy Class 5A Wildcats, who scored less than 30 points only three times this season – in each of their three losses.
“That’s a program that is in the mix for the state championship year in and year out. They are well coached, have a lot of talent, are big and tough up front on both sides, and we knew it was going to be a big challenge,” said Brown.
Destrehan running back Malachi Dabney scored five touchdowns. Greg Wilford and Jabari Mack each had touchdown receptions and Phillip Wright ran for another as the Wildcats took command.
“We’ll take it any way we can get it,” Destrehan coach Marcus Scott said. “You just never know. Some games you think are going to be easy are tough and some you just run away with. We had good balance. We were able to run it effectively and take opportunities in the passing game.”
Destrehan (9-3) will return to the neighborhood next Friday in the quarterfinals to face the undefeated No. 2 seed Airline, a 42-16 winner over No. 18 Westgate.
Edna Karr 56, Huntington 6 — The No. 1 seeded Edna Karr Cougars remained undefeated and largely unchallenged following a decisive victory over No. 17 Huntington Friday night in the regional round of the Select Division I playoffs at Morris Jeff Stadium in Algiers.
Karr quarterback John Johnson threw for 324 yards and three touchdowns and ran for two more. LSU commit TaRon Francis had six catches for 175 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The Cougars also had a fumble return for a touchdown and an interception return for another.
Huntington’s lone score came on the last play of the third quarter when Jamarion Washington broke free to go the distance for a 85-yard touchdown on a pass from quarterback Landon Gibbs. Washington finished with four catches for 121 yards. Nyles Hullaby rushed for 44 yards on 11 carries.
The Cougars, now 8-0 against Shreveport-area teams in the playoffs, will host No. 8 St. Thomas More, a 28-27 winner over No. 9 St. Augustine, next week. Huntington finished 6-6.
“I’m thankful that we got to play football tonight,” said Huntington coach Stephen Dennis. “A lot of football teams didn’t. We had some moments where we did some really good things against a really good football team and then there were some moments where the really good football team did some things.
“I’m really proud of these seniors. We have a motto — we always want to leave things better than we found them. We got our first playoff win in Division I Select against a really good 5A team last week.
“And tonight we lined up with one of the better teams in the state and played really hard for four quarters. That’s a testament to the leadership of our seniors. They left things better than they found them.”
Contact Lori at sportslyons@gmail.com