East Ascension rides defense to 20-6 playoff win over Terrebonne

GONZALES – No. 4 East Ascension outlasted No. 29 Terrebonne, 20-6, Friday night in the opening round of the Class 5A Playoffs.

In a defensive battle, both teams struggled to put points on the board for most of the night. The Spartans and Tigers were tied at 6 with just five minutes to play in the first half.

East Ascension kicker Logan Kern converted field goals off 34 and 22 yards while Terrebonne’s Wyatt Guidry made kicks from 42 and 46 yards out with the latter giving the Tigers their only lead of the night at 6-3.

Quarterback Cameron Jones hit Hobart Grayson in the corner of the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown with 2:51 to play in the first half, a crucial drive in a low scoring slug-fest.

“If you look at their scores throughout the season, their defense has been playing real well,” East Ascension coach Darnell Lee said. “They came in tonight and they played the way we thought they would play. It was a hard fought game, and they are a good team. We’re just fortunate that we’re able to go into the second round.”

Jones finished with 75 yards passing and the one touchdown, completing eight out of 19 passes. Grayson led all receivers with 30 yards on two grabs and a score.

Masey Lewis and Javon Carter paced a Spartans defense that held Terrebonne to just 46 passing yards and 67 on the ground for the night.

“I knew if we keep them out of the end zone, we had a chance,” Terrebonne coach Gary Hill said. “I knew that we were going to struggle with their defense, their size up front and the way their linebackers play. We Just couldn’t get anything going to sustain drives. We had some good plays, but we couldn’t consistently keep it going.”

On fourth and goal with just seven minutes to play, Cameron Jones took a quarterback keeper for a one-yard touchdown that essentially iced the game for East Ascension.

“Our defense they played lights out,” Lee explained. “We used our heavy package and did a zone read, but our mentality was to go ahead and score to take a two-score lead.”

The path to the Dome does not get any easier for the Spartans next week when they travel to take on No. 20 Ruston, 29-27 upset winners at Dutchtown.