St. Paul’s tops Covington to remain unbeaten

St. Paul’s (8-1) got an outstanding performance from sophomore fullback Dylan Long, who rushed for 142 yards on 20 carries with three TDs on runs of 2, 21 and 4 yards to propel the Wolves to a convincing 20-3 district victory over the Covington Lions at Hunter Stadium.

St. Paul’s 6-0 in district earned at least a tie for the District 7-5A title and a playoff berth. The Wolves’, winners of eight-straight, close out the regular season Friday at FHS.

CHS (4-5) slipped to 4-2 and is in third place, one game behind Mandeville.

It was the first district game that had been played at St. Paul’s between the two district rivals since the 1970s.

Long, a powerful runner, made the most of his opportunities being the featured back, running behind a Wolves’ line that was able to win the battle at the line of scrimmage to open the holes.

“I hope there are more games like this to come in my career. I was ready to go. This is a great victory for us and I was happy to help out our senior class. The offensive line has been the best line I have ever had. I wouldn’t trade them for anything. I love ‘em,” Long said.

St. Paul’s coach Ken Sears said he and his staff felt it could be a big game for Long going into the contest.

“We felt like on some inside veer, as physical a runner as he is, if he got by the first level that we would be in good shape. He did a great job along with the other backs. They were keying on those guys (Smith and Washington). That is a big advantage for us that we have good running backs. It gives us some different cards to play,” Sears said.

The Wolves rushed the ball for 238 yards on 42 attempts averaging 5.6 yards per rush with their O-line controlling the line of scrimmage.

Sears said his offensive linemen did a tremendous job in the trenches.

“They came off the ball. Covington did pose some problems for us in some of the looks they gave us. Our players responded,” Sears added.

Wolves’ junior running back Mikhail Washington picked up some tough yardage gaining 68 yards on 12 rushes, while fellow junior Stephon Smith added 27 yards on seven carries. Julien Lamothe, a starter on defense, ran the ball once for three yards.

Covington’s inability to stop the St. Paul’s running game was the difference along with the Wolves’ aggressive defense doing a superb job to bottle up the Lions’ talented senior running back Phillip Bickham.

Coach Sears credited the Wolves’ defense with playing a superb game going against the Lions’ skilled offense.

Bickham is usually able to make people miss and break a few plays for big gainers, but he was unable to do that against the Wolves. He was held to just 31 yards on 13 carries. Lions’ senior signal caller Tyler Scott rushed the ball eight times for 19 yards and Otis Jacobs carried once for 15 yards.

Scott completed 8-of-15 passes for 102 yards with one interception. The Wolves’ John Gremillion picked him off with under four minutes left in the game and he returned the ball 19 yards.

CHS’ Dexter Thompson was a bright spot in the Lions’ offense catching three passes for 71 yards all in the second half including a 49-yard perfectly thrown pass up the left side line on the second half’s first play from scrimmage. Thompson’s catch brought the ball down to the Wolves’ 31. Scott ran for six yards on first down, but on second down the Lions got flagged for a crucial holding call. Scott was able to hit Thompson for an eight yard gain to get back some of the penalty yardage. The Lions failed to convert later on fourth-and-nine from the 30 after Scott was tackled by Wolves’ linebacker Tyler Tourelle following a four yard gain with just over nine minutes left in the third quarter. Tourelle, the Wolves’ leading tackler on the season, made five primary tackles and had four assists.

With St. Paul’s rushing the ball so effectively, Wolves’ junior quarterback Alec Duncan only put the ball in the air eight times, connecting on two passes. He found usual deep threat Jermaine Sams for a short catch, but the ball was stripped away and recovered by Devin Perez giving the Lions a first-and-10 at the St. Paul’s 30 with 3:20 left in the first quarter. Facing fourth-and-five from the 14, the Lions decided to kick a field goal. Spencer Graham booted the ball through the uprights from 31 yards out with Denizel Ladner holding to give the Lions a 3-0 lead with 16.3 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Lamothe took the ensuing kickoff and returned it 34 yards out to the Wolves’ 46. Duncan generated a seven-play, 54-yard drive, capped off by Long’s two-yard tally with 9:57 left in the half. Jake Saltalamacchia’s PAT missed wide left, but the Wolves held a 6-3 lead.

Saltalamacchia booted the kickoff into the end zone for a touchback. CHS picked up a first down on Jacobs’ 15-yard end around. Two plays later a heavy rain shower ensued. Following a short two-yard gain by Bickham, Scott found Bickham in the flat, but he was hauled down for a loss of five yards. Scott ran the ball picking up three yards, but the Lions were forced to punt on fourth-and-10 from their 36. Graham got off a nice punt, but the Lions were flagged for a motion penalty, which was accepted by the Wolves.

On the next punt attempt, Lamothe broke through and blocked the punt. St. Paul’s took over at the CHS 32 yard line with 6:16 left in the half.

Long ripped off a nine-yard gain on first down, and Smith picked up a key first, gaining two yards to the 21. Smith carried again, but was stopped for no gain. Long followed good blocking and showed a good burst of speed racing into the end zone to make it a 12-3 game with 4:37 remaining in the half. Saltalamacchia was true on the point after.

CHS picked up one first down on its next possession, but stalled and was forced to punt with less than a minute until intermission. SPS took over at its 45. Long broke off a 24-yarder being stopped by Ladner. The Wolves ran four more plays, but only gained one more yard before running out of time to go into halftime leading 13-3.

With 8:08 left in the third quarter, CHS had good field position at its 44. The Lions picked up a first down on a 13-yard strike to Bickham from Scott.

Later facing fourth-and-two from the St. Paul’s 36, while in punt formation Graham faked the punt and tried to hit Jarius Bickham, but the ball fell short under a heavy rush by the Wolves’ Mickey Johnson. The junior defensive tackle had three solo stops along with two tackles for losses. Wolves’ defensive back Parker Galloway contributed four solo tackles and an assist.

St. Paul’s took over at the 36 following the fourth down incompletion with 5:14 left in the third quarter. Long carried three consecutive times on runs of 9, 1 and 5 yards to go over the century mark.

Later in the drive, on a crucial third-and-three from the Lions’ 36, Washington bulled his way for three yards and a key pick up to keep the drive alive. On third-and-nine from the 32, Duncan linked up with tight end Will Gensler on a 28 yarder, his second completion of the game, with the Wolves setting up shop first-and-goal at the four with 11:16 left in the game. Long polished off the 12-play drive to tally his third score and Saltalamacchia tacked on the PAT to close out the scoring.

Junior defensive end Matt Johnson topped the Wolves with 8 ? tackles including five solos, three assists, one stop for a loss and a sack. Johnson said it was a tremendous team victory.

“We came out and did what we had to do. Our defense just played together as a team as we always do. We’re big in brotherhood. We are so bonded and united. We all know our responsibilities and we played aggressively,” Johnson said.

St. Paul’s defensive coordinator Lee Pierre said (Matt) Johnson, who moved from the secondary last year to defensive end, is a student of the game.

“He is picking up everything from Houston (Bates) and he is playing really well. He puts his heart and soul into it,” Pierre said.

Pierre was very pleased with the Wolves’ defensive effort.

“We got tremendous pressure from our front with just a three-man rush (Matt Johnson, Houston Bates and Mickey Johnson). Our guys stepped it up and played real well,” Pierre added.

“Covington has really good skill players with the Bickham boys (Phillip and Jarius) and their quarterback (Scott). We were worried about that,” Pierre said.

Covington second-year coach Malter Scobel said St. Paul’s lined up and ran what they ran.

“We stopped them at times so we weren’t terrible defensively. We got inside the 30 and couldn’t score. We have to do a better job of scoring when we get down there. We get penalties and get moved back,” Scobel said.

“We have one more game and we have to get a win to get in (playoffs). We’ll see how the kids respond,” Scobel added.

Covington closes out district on the road Friday against the Mandeville Skippers in a must game for the Lions for a chance to make the playoffs. �