Chalmette posts 49-20 district win over East Jefferson

It wasn’t pretty early, but the Chalmette Owls looked like District 8-5A contenders the rest of the way on Friday night.

Brandon Tillman rushed for 129 yards and 2 touchdowns, Joshua Taylor added 2 additional rushing touchdowns and the Owls defeated their district rivals the East Jefferson Warriors 49-20 to move above .500.

The Owls (4-3, 2-2) had a bit of a messy start fumbling on their first possession and fumbling again in the first to help set up an easy East Jefferson touchdown.  It was all Owls after that point, however, especially after Martez Whidby returned the opening second half kickoff 84 yards for a score to set the second half tone.

“East Jefferson is a very well coached team,” said Owls head coach Jason Tucker, a ’93 Chalmette graduate. “Any time you go play those guys they’re going to fight you all the way to the end. It was disappointing that we left some points on the field in the first half with a few turnovers but I thought our guys played hard the whole way. Give East Jefferson credit though. They never quit or stopped fighting.”

East Jefferson (2-5, 2-2) managed to move the ball well at times and did get a 139 yard rushing effort from quarterback Cornelius Beasley. 3 turnovers, including a late interception return for a touchdown, however ultimately doomed their chances.

“I feel there were too many moments that we didn’t have enough juice,” said East Jefferson head coach Frank Aielo. “We were playing at a different speed at times and it showed. There were moments in the game that showed that when we execute we’re not that bad a football team but it can’t be hit and miss, it has to be all the time.”

Emotions ran somewhat high after the game was over as a brief shoving match occurred between the two rivals which was quickly defused by coaches on both sides. Tucker downplayed the exchange.

“I wouldn’t call it a scuffle or anything,” he said. “No one threw any punches or anything, nobody hurt anyone or anything. It was just a little jarring if anything, definitely not a scuffle. It’s an emotional game emotions fly high. You definitely have to move on from that and try to avoid that but it definitely wasn’t a scuffle.”

Although Taylor attempted only 2 passes on the evening he completed both of them for 34 yards including a crowd raising 31 yarder to Charles Bailey that bounced off of his intended receiver’s hands into Bailey’s. That play helped set up Taylor’s 4-yard touchdown run just 1:47 before the half to give the Owl’s a 21-6 halftime lead, and perhaps helped get them into the groove for the second half.

Next up for East Jefferson is the district leading John Ehret Patriots while Chalmette takes on the winless Higgins Hurricanes.