When Ponchatoula head coach Mike Baiamonte said the Green Wave and Fontainebleau were too very similar teams earlier this week, he wasn’t far off.

Ponchatoula got a 37-yard touchdown pass from Eldrid Palmer to Joseph Green with 4:47 left to pull out a 7-6 homecoming victory in The Swamp Friday night.

“Two very similar teams, with run-oriented attacks, and we hit the play action that they didn’t,” Baiamonte said.

Fontainebleau'€™s Chase Pennington (20) makes a stop on a Ponchatoula ball carrier with teammate Darrel Brown (97) closing in during Friday night'€™s district encounter against the Green Wave at the Swamp. (Photo by Mike Kiral/Hammond Daily Star)

Ponchatoula remained in the playoff hunt going into its season finale at Hammond, improving to 4-4 overall and 2-4 in District 6-5A. Fontainebleau dropped to 4-4 on the season and 2-4 in district.

“It was a big win and keeps us in the hunt, I think,” Baiamonte said. “We

control our own destiny. We just have to win out. After that, if you don’t make it, you don’t make it, but we have a shot.”

The Green Wave defense, which had allowed 30 or more points in four straight games, held Fontainebleau out of the end zone and limited the Bulldogs to 187 yards. Fontainebleau’s only score came on a recovery in the end zone of a blocked punt in the opening minutes of the game.

“Our defense really struggled coming into this week, really giving up some points,” Baiamonte said. “Hats off to my defensive coaches. They did a great job. And hats off to my kids. They did a great job of handling a solid running attack team.”

Ponchatoula looked like it would be haunted by a couple of mistakes on this Halloween night, the blocked punt and a block in the back on a 67-yard touchdown pass from Palmer to Jacques West. But the Green Wave defense set up the winning score when Livingston Hamilton recovered a fumble by Perrin Sims at the Fontainebleau 44-yard line with 7:03 left. On second-and-13 from the 37, Palmer faked a handoff and hit Green streaking down the right sideline for the score. Russ Bratton added the deciding extra point after Jeremy Troulliet pulled down a high snap.

“We had thrown it earlier in the season and missed it for a touchdown against Slidell,” Baiamonte said of the play action. “When the guys commit to the run like they do, you have to try to sneak something deep down the field. We had the earlier one that had been called back because of the penalty. With the offense that we do, we have to try to hit the play action.”

Fontainebleau drove to the 48 after Sims converted a fourth-and-1.

Sims then carried to the Ponchatoula 28, but holding and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on the play pushed the Bulldogs back to their 30. Clay Fritscher threw three straight incompletions, then was called for intentional grounding on fourth down.

The Bulldogs got the ball back at their 17 with 19 seconds left, but Hamilton intercepted Fritscher’s pass over the middle at the Wave 33 with 5.1 seconds remaining.

The game got off to a bad start when Green’s knee hit the ground on the opening kickoff at the Ponchatoula 4. Chase Pennington then blocked Bratton’s punt with Kris Rice recovering it in the end zone. Hunter Starring’s extra point was no good following an errant snap, keeping the score 6-0 with 9:56 left in the first quarter.

Ponchatoula drove to the Bulldog 19 on the ensuing possession, but Green threw low into the end zone on a halfback pass on fourth down.

Palmer hit West on a slant for an apparent 39-yard touchdown pass with 6:18 left in the third quarter, but a block in the back negated the score.

The Green Wave drove to the Fontainebleau 9, but Jeremy Fos stepped in front of West to pick off Palmer’s pass at the 2 with 1.9 seconds remaining in the quarter. It was Fos’ fourth interception of the year.

Palmer passed for 108 yards while Green ran for 73 yards on 22 carries.

Sims had 90 yards on 17 carries for Fontainebleau.

Fontainebleau will wrap up its district season on the road against St. Paul’s.