Slidell’s Jaron Wiggins scored two touchdowns and Blake Forbis threw for 214 yards including a pair of scores in a 35-0 shutout of Covington in a game, which the Tigers scored 21 points off Lions turnovers.

Friday’s District 7-5A opening victory at L.V. McGinty Stadium put the Tigers at 2-1 and dropped CHS to 1-2.

SHS has outscored its last two opponents 98-14.

Slidell running back Zachary Johnson (22), who ran for 91 yards and a score, tries to break a Covington tackle in Friday'€™s District 7-5A opener at SHS. (Photo by James Elorriaga)

Both offenses got off to a slow start, but Covington began the second quarter with a third- and-eight on Slidell’s 49. CHS quarterback Tyler Scott completed a pass to Chris Arnoult for a first down, but he fumbled and Slidell’s Chris Tranchina recovered.

A penalty forced the Tigers to begin the drive at their own 23. Slidell went on a long drive consisting of 13 plays that chewed 5:47 off the clock. Facing fourth-and-goal from the two, Forbis handed off to Wiggins, who ran up the middle for the score. Chris Barnes tacked on the extra point, making it 7-0 with 5:55 left in the first half.

On the ensuing kickoff, CHS was penalized and started the drive at the eight, but was only able to get it to the 16 and was forced to punt. A false start pushed the ball back to the 11 and a short punt was downed at the Lions’ 35.

One play later Forbis hit Travis Markey in stride and he took it the rest of the way for the score. Barnes added the PAT and the Tigers took a 14-0.

Forbis said they’ve been working on that play all week and was called at a good time.

“It was a perfect time to set it up and we ran it to perfection,” Forbis said. “It actually worked out perfectly. They blitzed and we had man-to-man. It was a fake screen and Markey made a good fake block, ran a good route, caught the ball and just did everything right.”

Slidell had a chance to blow the game open near the end of the first half, but with the ball on CHS’ 13, Forbis was intercepted by Otis Jacobs in the back of the end zone for a touchback with 46 seconds left. CHS mounted a drive to Slidell’s 32, but a 48-yard field goal as time expired was short and the Tigers took a 14-0 lead to intermission.

Slidell opened the second half with the ball and fumbled it away on its first possession and Denizel Ladner recovered for Covington on the 50. With a chance to cut the lead in half, the Lions faced a third-and-two from SHS’ five, but Scott had his pass intercepted by Chad Livingston at the two.

The Tigers responded by driving 98 yards on 11 plays. With a third-and-goal from the one, Wiggins got the ball and scored his second TD of the night. Barnes’ extra point put Slidell up 21-0 with 3:57 left in the third quarter.

Wiggins finished with 85 yards rushing on 11 carries. When asked the key to his night, the running back said, “following my blocks, running through the hole and staying focused.”

Slidell coach Artie Liuzza talked about Wiggins.

“Jaron is a tough-little guy,” Liuzza said. “He’s scat-back, a true scat back. I thought he did a great great job. He’s a tough runner.”

Covington drove down to Slidell’s 40 on its next possession, but turned the ball over once again when Raphael Marks came up with a pick, giving the Tigers the ball at their own 11.

Again, Slidell capitalized when Forbis and Armand Williams hooked up for a 17-yard TD pass. Barnes hit the point after and the Tigers led 28-0 with 1:10 left.

CHS got the ball back on the 20 after Barnes booted the kickoff into the end zone.

The Lions moved the ball five yards and on fourth-and-five tried a little trickery with a fake punt, but the pass was incomplete with 27 seconds left in the third quarter.

Wiggins ran the ball down to the 11 as the period ended and on the first play of the fourth quarter, Zachary Johnson, who had 91 yards on the ground, got 11 and the final touchdown of the game. Barnes posted the final point to give SHS a 35-0 lead.

Covington running back Phillip Bickham ran for 74 yards to lead the Lions.

Lions’ coach Malter Scobel gave Slidell credit for the way the Tigers competed.

“We played OK, obviously they played a good game,” Scobel said. “They’ve got good players and good coaches. We were in position at times and didn’t get the job done. You can’t turn it over and we’ve got to get a little more production out the offense and we’ve got to do better on defense and get off the field.”

Both teams return to action on Thursday. Slidell will travel to Mandeville to take on the Skippers, while Covington will host Ponchatoula.