Slidell shuts out Tors

Slidell stayed in the hunt for a playoff berth with a 33-0 blanking of the Hammond Tornadoes Friday during senior night at L.V. McGinty Stadium.

The Tigers improved to 5-3 and 4-2 in the league, while Hammond remains winless on the season, falling to 0-7 overall and 0-6 in District 6-5A play.

“This was a good solid win for us,” said Slidell coach Artie Liuzza. “This district is so competitive that each week is a tough game, and it makes for some good competition.”

Senior quarterback Blake Forbis connected on 19-of-25 pass attempts for 289 yards with a trio of touchdown tosses and a couple of interceptions.

“We gave up three big plays, but we still competed, and we will continue to give our best effort,” said Hammond head coach Rusty Barrilleaux.

The Tigers led 21-0 at the half, finishing the first half with a goal-line stand. Slidell stopped Hammond fullback Justin Betts on fourth-and-goal from the 3-yard line. Junior lineman Alfred Halton led the defensive penetration on the play while teammate Jason Smothers pressured the Tornadoes’ quarterback, getting a pair of sacks along with help from senior Joe Hoffman.

Forbis connected on his first scoring pass, teaming up with senior wideout Travis Markey from 27 yards away to give Slidell the 7-0 lead with Chris Barnes’ extra-point kick. The score was set up when Michael Norman picked off Hammond’s Jon-Michael Williams’ pass on a fake punt on fourth down. Norman snatched the ball from over his shoulder to give his Tigers the ball at the Tors’ 27.

Forbis increased the Tigers’ lead to 14-0, hooking up on a catch-and-run to Tyler Ziegler from midfield, at the beginning of the second quarter. The tally capped off an eight-play, 73-yard drive. Ziegler finished with five catches for 101 yards.

At the midway mark of the second period Jaron Wiggins padded the Tigers lead to 21-0 on a 3-yard run. Barnes added his third PAT, and the teams went into intermission with Slidell in front, 21-0.

Slidell upped the score to 27-0 on the first play of the second half when Forbis hit Zack Clark down the middle of the field on a 42-yard touchdown toss.

At the end of the stanza Forbis was picked off by Ryan Whittington, who returned the ball to midfield before fumbling the pigskin back to the Tigers with Wiggins diving on the ball.

The third quarter then continued for three more plays with two Tor penalties prolonging the period.

Zachary Johnson, who led Slidell in rushing with seven carries for 45 yards, tallied the final six of the game, scoring from 2 yards out with eight minutes remaining.

Hammond tried to mount a drive in the waning minutes, but senior cornerback Romero Garcia snuffed out any chance of that, intercepting Tors’ sophomore signal-caller Trevor Ragan with just over two minutes left.

Torian Weber led all ball carriers, toting the ball 21 times for 94 yards. Weber also handled return duties for Hammond.

On Friday Slidell travels across town to tangle with Northshore at Panthers Stadium, while Hammond faces Ponchatoula.