St. Paul’s (7-1) puts its district unbeaten record of 5-0 on the line tonight as the Wolves host the Covington Lions (4-4) at Hunter Stadium.

Tonight’s game becomes a true home contest for the Wolves for the first time in a number of years dating back to the early 1970s when the last home game was played at St. Paul’s between the two before district games were moved to Covington High.

St. Paul’s, winners of seven consecutive games, square off against CHS, victors of four straight. Covington, following a district opening loss to Slidell, has scratched its way back into the district title chase at 4-1 in a second place tie with the Mandeville Skippers. St. Paul’s edged Covington 9-7 in last year’s contest played at Jack Salter Stadium.

Last week, St. Paul’s came back to defeat Ponchatoula 32-25 on the road, while Covington downed Northshore 41-31 at home.

St. Paul’s coach Ken Sears said his club handled the adversity of falling behind last week against Ponchatoula to come back and earn the seven-point victory.

“I think our players and team showed a lot of character being able to come from behind last week,” Sears said.

St. Paul’s Stephon Smith helped carry the Wolves to victory tallying four touchdowns on runs of 11, 8, 6 and 10 yards. Smith is the Wolves’ leading rusher with 652 yards on 94 carries averaging 6.9 yards per rush with a team-high eight TDs. Sophomore fullback Dylan Long has been a main part of the Wolves’ offense as well with 497 yards rushing averaging 5.3 yards per carry with seven touchdowns. Junior running back Mikhail Washington, who missed a couple games with a sprained ankle, has contributed 303 yards on the ground averaging 5.8 yards per carry with two touchdowns.

Junior quarterback Alec Duncan has completed 51-of-108 passes for 888 yards with eight TDs and four interceptions. Junior Jermaine Sams tops the Wolves’ receiving corps with 21 receptions for 471 yards. He averages 22.4 yards per catch and has six touchdowns.

Wolves’ senior place kicker Jake Saltalamacchia booted a 32-yard field goal last week along with going three-for-three on extra points.

Junior linebacker Tyler Tourelle led the St. Paul’s defense last week with five solo stops and six assists. Junior end Matt Johnson delivered three sacks, four tackles for losses and made three primary stops. Junior tackle Mickey Johnson registered three primary tackles, two assists and contributed three stops for losses. Senior end Houston Bates did his thing recording one sack to give him 11 on the season. Bates chipped in with five individual tackles along with an assist.

Sears described the Covington Lions as an explosive offensive team that feeds off of momentum.

“They have a lot of weapons that can beat you. Their skill players have tremendous speed. They also have a tremendous return game. Throughout the season they have been pretty consistent with scoring points on special teams. We are going to have to play a real good game when it comes to special teams,” Sears said.

Sears said his club has some of the normal bumps and bruises at this point in the season, but feels his club is pretty healthy overall for the game.

Sears said Covington’s defense comes at you with a number of different blitzes and different looks.

“Their guys are playing well. They have done a great job rushing the passer. They always seem to be in the right spot to make plays. We are going to have to play a good game offensively and know our assignments,” Sears added.

Sears said it would be very important for his team to minimize mistakes and take it one play at a time.

“In terms of match ups I think we are okay. They have some players that probably have a step or two on certain match ups, but it is a matter of how well we prepare and are able to execute the game plan this week,” Sears said.

Covington second-year head coach Malter Scobel said at this point St. Paul’s is the best team in the district.

“They are the best on the Northshore at this time. To be the best, you have to be able to beat the best,” Scobel said.

“We are trying to iron out the little mistakes we have been making so that we can have the complete game. We are going to have to play close to perfect. Our kids have been working extremely hard and have the capability of playing that perfect game,” Scobel added.

Scobel talked about the outstanding play of his special teams, which included a 90-yard kickoff return for a score by Otis Jacobs with 10:37 left in the fourth quarter last week.

“Our return game has been huge this year. Our blocking has been good and our returners are getting the job done. Our offensive line has played better from week-to-week. Tyler (Scott) is doing a good job managing the offense by getting the ball into the hands of our playmakers,” the Lions’ coach said.

“We wanted to run the ball last week against Northshore and if St. Paul’s lines up to try to stop our running game we won’t hesitate to have Tyler put it in the air.”

Scott connected on 6-of-8 passes for 97 yards last week including a 48-yard scoring toss to Jacobs. Scott also rushed the ball 11 times for 74 yards with two TDs coming on runs of 1 and 5 yards.

Lions’ senior running back Phillip Bickham rushed the ball 18 times for 114 yards and tallied on a 23 yard run.

Defensively, sophomore linebacker Otha Peters delivered eight primary tackles and two assists. He also recorded three sacks and caused a fumble for the Lions. Senior linebacker Ryan Robinson was in on five solo stops, two assists, one sack and one quarterback hurry. Senior middle linebacker Kyle Crouch registered six individual tackles. Junior defensive end Devin Perez was credited with five primary stops, three assists, two sacks and recovered a fumble, which he returned 33 yards for a score on the first play from scrimmage in the second half. Junior defensive end Bradley Bellanger came up with four individual tackles, two assists, one sack, a hurry and made a tackle resulting in a loss.