St. Mary’s gets statement win over Many, Lakeview learning lessons for district play

By LORI LYONS, Journal Sports

Two weeks ago, the St. Mary's football team served notice when by notching its first win of the 2024 season against Menard.

Last week, the Tigers made a statement.

St. Mary's scored a seven-year-high 64 points in a dominating 64-40 victory Friday night in Sabine Parish over the Many Tigers.

The 64 points scored were the most for a St. Mary's team since 2017 when the Tigers scored 70 against University Academy.

It's not a score anyone saw coming against a longtime powerhouse like Many, which has won three state championships and was runner-up twice in recent years.

"Did I expect to go in and score 64 points on them? Absolutely not," said St. Mary's head coach Kedrin Seastrunk. "I wouldn't think we'd score 64 points on anyone. We didn't try. Everything just clicked. We prepared well and everything just worked. I give all the glory to God."

Well, not everything worked. On the second play of St. Mary's first drive, Many came up with an interception and went right down the field for the score.

"They shoved it down our throats," Seastrunk said. "So they had all the momentum."

But St. Mary's quickly took it back by scoring the next 19 points and never trailed again. The closest Many got was 19-13 in the second quarter, but then St. Mary's scored 17 straight points to take a 36-26 halftime lead.

Many put together a pair of scoring drives in the third quarter, but then St. Mary's scored another three touchdowns.

John Paul Thibodaux led the offense with two touchdowns, one a 6-yard run to get St. Mary's going in the first quarter and the other a 48-yard run in the second quarter.

Quarterback Braylon Normand ran for a 5-yard touchdown and he connected with Haiden Nelson on a 51-yard strike with Haiden Nelson late in the first half. Place kicker Carter Hogg made a 22-yard field goal in addition to his 7-of-7 extra points.

Brady Childress scored on a 20-yard run and had a 42-yard touchdown gallop in the fourth quarter. On defense, Nelson also scored on a 35-yard fumble recovery late in the game and Camden Litton scored on another fumble recovery for 32 yards.

St. Mary's travels to St. Frederick's on Friday.

The Lakeview Gators continue to struggle through a very tough pre-district schedule that coach Lawrence Seawood hopes will have his team ready to battle once district play begins on Oct. 11.

Last Friday the Gators suffered their fourth consecutive shutout loss, this one a 56-0 drubbing by DeQuincy. Lakeview has been outscored 178-0 in four games.

"We just trying to make it to district, man," Seawood said. "This non-district has been rough on us. We're getting a lot of power points from the teams we're playing. Once we get to district we should be pretty good and have a chance to make the playoffs."

Lakeview will play host to Avoyelles (1-3) this week.