Slidell senior quarterback Blake Forbis had two game-changing break away runs in the first quarter. The first one down the left sideline covering 70 yards just two minutes into the contest and the next from 66 yards away with just seconds left in the opening quarter put his Tigers up 14-6 by the end of the period en route to a 51-19 lopsided win over Ponchatoula Friday night at L.V. McGinty Stadium.

The victory evened Slidell’s record at 3-3 and more importantly kept them in the hunt for a playoff berth in District 6-5A upping its mark to 2-2 with three weeks left in the season. Ponchatoula also is 3-3 overall, but fell to 1-3 in league play.

Green Wave coach Mike Baiamonte summed up the loss saying, “We made too many mistakes setting up Slidell with great field position.” Baiamonte was referring to his team’s five fumbles losing three of them.

Blake

After Forbis’ first six of the night and Chris Barnes first PAT giving Slidell the lead 7-0, the Green Wave answered with a six-play 66-yard drive, scoring when Joseph Green bulled over from three-yards out at the 2:41 mark of the opening stanza to cut the Tigers lead to 7-6. But just as the snap was low thus not allowing the extra-point kick to be executed this would prove to be a sign of things to come as Slidell widened its lead from there.

Five minutes into the second stanza Slidell capitalized on another low snap on an attempted Green Wave punt to get the ball at the Ponchatoula 22-yard line. Zachary Johnson scored on a one-yard plunge to give the Tigers a 20-6 lead and the rout was on.

On the ensuing kickoff Green fumbled the ball and junior linebacker Todd Davis recovered the first of his two fumble recoveries to give Slidell excellent field position at the Green Wave 35. Forbis connected with Tyler Ziegler on a 34-yard pass play down to the one and Jaron Wiggins did the honors from there on a run to increase the lead to 27-6 for Slidell.

Barnes tacked on a 34-yard field goal with just over two minutes left in the first half to bring the tally to 30-6. Forbis struck again with six seconds left to play before halftime hooking up with his favorite target junior Armand Williams on a 35-yard completion to give the Tigers an insurmountable 37-6 lead at intermission.

Williams caught five balls on the night for 94 yards with Forbis passing for a total of 171 yards and rushing for 146.

PHS took the second half kickoff and drove down the field to narrow Slidell’s lead to 37-12 when Cody Gueldner scored on a one-yard run for the Green Wave.

However, SHS’ Johnson would return the kickoff that followed the score for 79 yards down to the 11-yard line and from there Forbis tossed a shovel pass to Wiggins from 13 yards away to propel Slidell to a commanding 44-12 lead.

On Ponchatoula’s next offensive series, quarterback Eldrid Palmer coughed the ball up and Davis recovered at the Green Wave 29. Two plays later Johnson would add the victors’ final score on a 26-yard scamper and Slidell led 51-12 at the midway mark of the third quarter.

In the final period, SHS and the Green Wave substituted liberally and Ponchatoula would score the final six of the game when Blake Short scored on a three-yard run, which was set up by Dalton Cummings interception of Tigers’ sophomore quarterback Bradley Myers.

“Blake had a career night, and we had some great blocking up front to open up some holes which we took advantage of tonight,” said Slidell mentor Artie Liuzza.

SHS travels to the Dawg Pound next week to face FHS while Ponchatoula continues to St. Paul’s.