It’s week 5 in the high school football season and it is the last week of games before district takes place. You would be hard-pressed to find a more vibrant atmosphere in small-town USA than in Olla this past Friday as the LaSalle Tigers took on the Pickering Red Devils.
It was homecoming for the Tigers, and you could tell by the way they played, the young team is starting to click on all cylinders as they had the most complete game so far this season. This is the first time the Tigers have won four in a row (without one of the wins being a forfeit) since 2014.
In the first quarter both teams came out very good defensively and forced 3 and outs. After the Tigers got the ball back, it was time for the Tuff Street and Wyatt King-led ground attack.
Street broke off a few 10+ yard runs and got down to the goal line, then King bashed it in from three yards out for the Tiger TD. The twopoint try was good as well thanks to some tough running from Braedan Cummings.
In the second quarter, Jessey Stowe set the tone with some run to contact type of runs and moved the ball quickly. Stowe’s best of the first half was a 42-yard run that got the Tigers into the red zone, and from there, a pass from Street was tipped in the air and caught in the back of the endzone by wide receiver Mason Lee to grow the lead to 14-0.
After the half, the run game kept going strong with a long run from Stowe, and a long TD run from Street that included a fantastic broken tackle, the Tigers finished the play to make it 200.
On the following drive, the Tigers used all three backs yet again and capped off a clock-draining drive with another Wyatt King touchdown run and a two-point conversion jet sweep by Alex Richmond making it 28-0.
The defense did a great job all night long keeping that zero on the scoreboard with the linemen led by Cash Barton, who did his job all night long, recording two sacks on the game. Seniors Caleb Fowler, Landon McCartney and Landon Callendar had an impact on the game as well.
On top of that, seniors Caiden Finley and Aidan Billingsley kept the secondary on lockdown, forcing the talented Pickering quarterback to try to throw away from them but ended up throwing a pair of interceptions. One pick-off was by Tuff Street and the other by Alex Richmond.
To cap off the game, a TD pass by Street was caught by a great Randy Moss-esq catch by the sure-handed Finley and ran in by a well-deserving Jessey Stowe to make the final score a statement- making 36-0. If you were at the game, you saw the Pickering QB go down with a hard hit and taken off the field by stretcher. I’m happy to report that the tough young man is okay and good to go for his next game. The crowd going silent paired with fans praying and even Tiger players praying on their own sideline showed good character and sportsmanship that any town wants to see out of its community and team.
All in all, the community seemed to appreciate seeing the KALB news crew come down and name the game of the week to this previous matchup. As for the coaching staff and players it must have been nice to match your winning total from last season in week 5.
With this shutout, the Tigers are now headed into district play 4-1 and will travel to Campti to play the Lakeview Gators this Friday. Be sure and make the drive up near Natchitoches and help these young men make it 5 in a row!
