Ponchatoula head coach Mike Baiamonte knows how dangerous a team can be when it is playing with the confidence Mandeville showed in a 34-0 victory over the Green Wave Friday night.

“They are definitely a well-deserved 5-0 team,” Baiamonte said. “That team is playing with a lot of confidence and a lot of swagger. When you get that in high school, that’s deadly.”

But what killed Ponchatoula Friday was turnovers, mistakes that Mandeville converted into a 10-0 first quarter lead.

Mandeville defender Ryan McKneely (48) takes down Ponchatoula fullback Joseph Green (36) during Friday'€™s District 7-5A clash at The Swamp, won by the first-place Skippers 34-0. (Photo by Mike Kiral/Hammond Daily Star)

“You can’t give a good team like Mandeville extra possessions, and that’s what we did,” Baiamonte said. “If you don’t eliminate mistakes you can never expect to win, and it’s our job as coaches to find a way to eliminate them.”

Mandeville (5-0, 3-0) never let Ponchatoula’s offense recover from that early hole, holding the Green Wave (3-2, 1-2) to 38 yards in the first half and 145 for the game.

“My coaches have done an outstanding job,” Mandeville head coach Guy

Lecompte said. “My defensive coordinator, Craig Jones, doesn’t leave any stone unturned. He has the defense prepared every week. They are executing the game plan, and it’s because of the way he organizes and handles them in practice.”

Ponchatoula took over its second possession at its 45-yard line and moved to the Mandeville 43. But Joseph Green, who ran for 60 yards on 18 carries, fumbled the toss, with Jeff Rebouche recovering for Mandeville at the Green Wave 49.

Three plays later, John Wenzel found Chris Houlemard on the left seam for the 25-yard touchdown. Matt Dombrowski’s extra point made it 7-0 with 6:07 left in the first quarter. Wenzel had found Houlemard for a 15-yard gain to start the drive.

Jerry Mitchell made a diving interception of a tipped Eldrid Palmer pass at the Ponchatoula 47 two plays into the next drive. A 32-yard pass from Wenzel to Brandon Weeden set up Dombrowski’s 28-yard field goal with 3:17 left in the opening quarter.

Wenzel capped a 13-play, 69-yard drive with a 7-yard run on fourth down to make it 17-0 with 4:39 left in the half. Wenzel completed four passes for 39 yards on the drive.

Wenzel then hit Weeden over the middle from 22 yards out on the next drive for a 24-0 lead with 1:28 remaining in the half. He finished 11-of-17 for 177 yards and two touchdowns.

Ponchatoula dominated the second half yardage wise, out-gaining Mandeville, 107-45. But the Skippers got the only points thanks to their special teams. Houlemard took the opening kickoff of the half, faked a reverse and went around the left side for a 91-yard touchdown.

Ponchatoula then ground out its best drive of the game, going 62 yards in 16 plays, the first 15 on runs. But Ryan McKneely sacked Palmer on third down, then Palmer threw incomplete for Jaylon Wilde in the end zone from the 10 on fourth down.

Dombrowski added a 48-yard field goal.