If this football coaching ever gets old, St. Paul’s Kenny Sears might want to consider another profession ...prophet.

During the hottest summer in decades, Wolves’ head coach Sears preached to his team the benefit of being a fourth-quarter team, of not quitting, or digging deep when the difficulties arose. He talked about how this team would face such a situation one day.

During the filthy heat and humidity of the record-setting Northshore summer, Sears talked about what this team, as opposed to last season’s 11-2 squad that lost in the second-round of the Class 5A playoffs, needed to do to win.

Dane Stubbs of St. Paul’s makes a one-handed grab to intercept a Karr pass. (Photo by Joey Michel)

“I thought we did a great job,” Sears said of the second-half performance. “We thought we could run the football on them, and we did. Defensively, I thought we swarmed to the ball well. They’re big on that O-line, you know. We bent, but we didn’t break.”

Friday night at Hunter Stadium  in the season-opener for both teams, just such a situation as Sears trained his team for arose, the kind that good teams must overcome. The Wolves did, beating Karr 28-12 by scoring the game’s final 21 points.

Playing Karr, which was ranked in the state’s top 10 in Class 4A to open the season after losing to Salmen 25-24 in last year’s quarterfinals, the Wolves found themselves trailing 12-7 seconds into the second half after a horrendous error that could have given the Cougars a huge emotional lift.

“We went into the halftime and talked about (playing better in the second half),” said senior running back Mikhail Washington. “All summer long, we committed to being a fourth-quarter team. We could tell they were getting tired.”

The Wolves, who rushed for 55 yards on 18 first-half carries, led 7-6 at the half. But Karr kicked off and St. Paul’s stood in place until the Cougars’ Joseph Harris pounced on as perfect a gift as the Wolves could give, recovering the second-half kickoff at the St. Paul’s 8. Two plays later, Karr quarterback Tollette George, whose 203 yards passing was all but 31 of the Cougars’ total yardage, threw to Neal Randall for the touchdown. It was the pair’s second hookup, with George hitting Randall for a 69-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.

“John (Gremillion) was in great position on the long throw, but they made the play,” Sears said.

The second connection between the two Karr seniors gave the Cougars a 12-7 lead seconds into the second half.

After one more St. Paul’s possession resulted in little, the Wolves took control, flashing senior running backs Mikhail Washington between the tackles, slipping him into a hole off a wingback handoff or giving fellow senior Dylan Long a chance to pound the Cougars inside.

Washington carried 11 times for 72 yards in the second half, part of 19 total carries for 101 yards. Long, who had touchdown runs of 6, 1 and 5 yards — the latter two in the second half — as part of his 87 in the game, muscled aside Karr defensive tackles for 68 yards in the second half on seven carries. His 37-yard run in the fourth-quarter was symbolic of the Wolves’ effort, nothing flashy but all effort as he took the handoff, chugged inside for moments then bounced outside and plowed the field ahead.

“We talked about coming back and trying to win in the fourth quarter when we met at the half,” Long said. “We could tell things were starting to go our way toward the end of the third quarter, but we just had to stay calm and keep running the ball. The game wasn’t over yet.”

Not over, but the Wolves were headed downhill.

Along with Long’s three touchdowns, Markell Powell chipped in with a scoring run of 25 yards as the Wolves (1-0) and ranked seventh in Class 5A by the Louisiana Sportswriter’s Association) ran off 17 of 21 plays at one point from late in the third quarter until middle of the fourth. The Wolves, who start senior quarterback Alec Duncan, completed all seven of their passes in the first half for 72 yards, but didn’t need the passing game the way they manhandled the Cougars.

“As long as we were do doing so well, we figured we could just run power football,” said wide receiver Jermaine Sams, who had five catches for 67 yards in the first half before becoming a part of the receiver protection program in the second half. “We worked all summer to be a second-half team. As long as things are going well, I’m happy to just block.”

The Wolves ran 25 times for 195 yards. “We could tell we were taking over,” Long said.

“Power football is our thing,” said Washington. “I worked hard all summer to get where I want to go, and that’s what we did.”

“We got a little winded in the second half,” said Karr Coach Jabbar Jaluke. “They did a good job. We missed some tackles, and we made some mistakes, but that’s why you play a good team like that, so you can learn. We’ll be fine.”