St. Paul's, FHS battle tonight

St. Paul’s Wolves (8-1, 6-0) cap off the regular season tonight taking on Fontainebleau (1-8, 0-6) in the Dawg Pound. St. Paul’s downed FHS 14-6 in last year’s contest to finish second in district.

St. Paul’s, winners of eight consecutive games, earned at least a share of the District 7-5A title with last week’s 20-3 home victory over the Covington Lions. FHS came up just short once again falling to Ponchatoula 27-21. Fontainebleau has been snake bitten throughout the season despite being in all of its ballgames. The Bulldogs six district defeats have come in close contests by no more than six points in any of the games.

Wolves’ head coach Ken Sears said you can throw the records out the window because Fontainebleau is a much better team than their record would indicate.

“Fontainebleau is a good football team and I know their record doesn’t indicate that, but they have lost six ballgames by less than a touchdown. They also played Archbishop Shaw (15-3) and Archbishop Rummel (17-3) really tough early in the season. Fontainebleau is well coached. They just haven’t gotten a lot of breaks,” Sears said.

“We are going to have to play a solid game trying to be as mistake free as we can. They play very good defense and they can pound the ball offensively with a good running game,” Sears added.

St. Paul’s sophomore fullback Dylan Long turned in a sterling performance in last week’s victory over Covington. Long tallied all three Wolves’ touchdowns on runs of 2, 21 and 4 yards, while picking up 142 yards on 20 carries.

Sears said Long came up with a big game when the Wolves needed it.

“Dylan has been consistently strong for us all year not just in the running game, but blocking and receiving as well,” Sears said.

“All of our backs have done an outstanding job, but it has definitely been a luxury that we have had, having three quality guys (Long, Smith and Washington). If one isn’t having a good night, we can definitely play another card,” Sears added.

St. Paul’s offensive line did another solid job firing off the ball last week to open holes for the Wolves’ running backs. The Wolves gained 238 yards rushing on 44 carries.

Junior Stephon Smith tops the Wolves’ rushers with 685 yards on 104 carries with eight TDs averaging 6.5 yards per carry. Long is next with 651 yards on 115 carries and a team-high 10 touchdowns. Long is averaging 5.6 yards per rush. Junior Mikhail Washington, who missed two games with an ankle sprain and is back to being 100 percent, has gained 354 yards with two TDs averaging 5.6 yards per attempt.

With the Wolves’ running game firing on all cylinders junior quarterback Alec Duncan only put the ball up eight times with two completions for 23 yards.

Junior Jermaine Sams tops the Wolves’ receivers with 22 receptions for 467 yards with six scores and is averaging 21.2 yards per catch.

Defensively, the Wolves got a strong effort again last week holding the high scoring Covington Lions to just a Spencer Graham 31-yard field goal near the end of the first quarter.

Sears said the defense continues to do its thing.

“Our defense did a good job last week swarming to the ball. We faced some really good Covington High athletes and I thought we did a great job tackling. Our guys got to the point of attack and were able to gang tackle,” Sears said.

Defensive coordinator Lee Pierre said he was proud of the Wolves’ defensive effort, especially with being able to put pressure on Covington with just a three-man rush.

Last week, junior defensive end Matt Johnson registered five solo tackles and three assists. Johnson recorded a sack along with a tackle for a loss to help spark the Wolves’ defense. Linebacker Tyler Tourelle, who is the Wolves’ leading tackler, continued his consistent play with five primary tackles and four assists. Defensive tackle Mickey Johnson recorded three solo stops and had two tackles for losses. Defensive back Parker Galloway chipped in with four individual tackles along with an assist.

Fontainebleau first-year head coach Mike Materne said St. Paul’s is obviously the best team in the district.

“We have to find a way to play our best game. These kids have been close and hopefully next year we can turn things around,” Materne said.

In last week’s six-point loss to Ponchatoula, the Bulldogs trailed 21-7 at the half, but never quit coming back to make it a close ballgame.

Senior running back Perrin Sims carried the rushing load for the Bulldogs with 177 yards on 22 carries. He also caught a 38-yard TD pass from Conner Smith. Sims tops the Dawgs with 715 yards on 122 carries averaging 5.8 yards per rush with four touchdowns.

Smith, the Bulldogs’ sophomore quarterback, who replaced Addison Melancon following his season ending injury, connected on 5-of-8 passes for 69 yards with the TD to Sims. Chris Fisher caught three balls for 24 yards.

Junior running back Ryan Brooks tallied two TDs last week on runs of 20 and 36 yards. He finished with 77 yards on four carries. Brooks has gained 400 yards on 90 carries averaging 4.4 yards per rush.

Defensively, senior inside linebacker Will Ward produced seven solo stops along with seven assists for the Bulldogs. He also had a tackle for a loss and caused a fumble. Senior middle linebacker Thomas Babin had three primary tackles and nine assists. Senior Scott Korte delivered four solo stops, five assists, one CBL and recovered two fumbles. Stephen Brown and Phillip Heisser came in with two primary tackles and five assists each. Strong safety Jeremy Foss intercepted a pass and contributed four individual tackles, while Spencer Ragas had one solo, five assists and caused a fumble.