By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports

Pop Houston.

Seems like every Evangel storyline revolves around the Eagles’ spectacular junior quarterback, deservedly so, and Friday’s District 1-5A championship showdown with unbeaten Parkway fit that criteria.

He threw for 278 yards and two touchdowns, ran for 74 more and another TD. Played a pivotal role in Evangel’s typical scoreboard stuffing, as ECA rang up 55 points.

But it was the Evangel defense that was dominant in the Eagles’ resounding 55-27 triumph at Rodney Duron Stadium, completing a revival of a championship tradition for one of the modern era’s most successful high school programs in Louisiana.

It had been a while, since 2018, that Evangel claimed a 1-5A title. The Eagles swooned early this decade, and when they rejoined the district before last season, needed a late-season surge to reach the playoffs with a 5-5 record.

Friday, they completed an 8-2 regular season that was two plays away from perfect. Evangel fell 33-32 in the opening week at state power Neville on a failed two-point conversion and a failed field goal. In their other non-district outing, a week before the Parkway contest, 2A’s top team, Lafayette Christian, forced a goalline fumble in the final seconds to hold off the Eagles 24-22.

“How much fun is this?” asked Evangel coach Denny Duron. “I don’t remember the last time (the Eagles won 1-5A). There’s nothing quite like watching these guys grow into champions. It’s a great day on Broadacres Road.”

It was rooted up front, with the Eagles defense making every yard tough for a Parkway offense that has routinely lined up in a power package much like the “tush push” formation all season and simply bulled downfield.

Not Friday night, after the first half. The game shifted on the goalline, when Parkway moved 79 yards to the Eagles’ 1 on 12 plays, poised to cut into a 34-20 deficit shortly before halftime – then went nowhere on four downs.

Evangel, with the hypercharged offense, turned the game with a goalline stand. Things weren’t the same afterward.

“I don’t know if we won it, but we at least tied, when it came to physicality,” said Duron. “I don’t want to take anything away from Parkway – they’re leaving the field with a better record (9-1) than ours – but we are physical, and we practice to be physical.

“Our defense was just great tonight,” he said. “(Parkway) had 20 at half, and they scored seven afterward. Those guys have athletes, and they are so well coached.”

Duron understated his defense’s effectiveness. The Panthers, averaging 52 points, didn’t score in the final three quarters.

Parkway did post 223 rushing yards (124 by Braxxton Black, another 81 from Damian Dalcaldacal), and quarterback Kaleb Williams threw for 222, but after completing nearly 70 percent of his passes this season, was harassed into 11 for 28 accuracy and was sacked several times, netting a minus 7 yards on 13 carries.

“The four guys in the middle and the two linebackers, we knew it would be tough to run the ball,” said Parkway coach Coy Brotherton. “We had a little success last year doing it (in a 40-35 loss) but we thought we might could get an advantage there, but we found out early on we had to change things up … they made it tough on us.”

One of the Evangel linebackers, Damari Drake, also pounded away on offense, rushing for 232 yards on just 13 carries, including touchdowns of 57, 5 and 50 yards.

Houston’s TD passes went for 64 (to DeMarkus Evans), 22 (Johnny Casey Jr.) and 21 yards (Charley Abraham).

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com