Karr’s John Johnson accounts for seven touchdowns in rout of Warren Easton

NEW ORLEANS – Playing underneath the bright lights of Tad Gormley Stadium before a local television audience, city-wide media and thousands of fans, Karr sophomore quarterback John Johnson proved himself to be more than ready for prime time.

Johnson accounted for seven touchdowns (six passing and one rushing) to lead the third-ranked Cougars to a 48-14 victory over Warren Easton on Friday.

“Everybody was locked in tonight,” Johnson said.

Johnson finished 11 of 17 for 233 yards and six touchdowns and rushed five times for 31 yards and a seventh touchdown.

Karr (3-0) has not lost to Easton (2-1) since 2015.

Johnson did the majority of his work in the first half when he accounted for five touchdowns (four passing and one running) to power the Cougars to a 34-0 lead.

On their first possession of the game, Johnson improvised on a play to give the Cougars a 7-0 lead. He dropped back to throw, avoided a tackle by Easton’s Nassir Hudson, fumbled, picked up the ball and threw a pass to Dezemen Favorite, who slipped behind the defense, made a leaping catch and jogged into the end zone for a 44-yard touchdown.

Easton responded by reaching the Karr 7-yard line on the ensuing possession, but the drive ended on a third-and-goal play when quarterback Greg Donaldson was pressured and floated up a pass that was intercepted by Aiden Hall at the Karr 15 and returned 20 yards.

That led to the Cougars’ increasing the lead to 14-0 when Johnson threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to receiver Oliver Mitchell on a fourth-and-3 play. The score came one play after Easton was penalized 15 yards on fourth and 18.

On the next possession, Karr’s Frederick Harte recovered a fumble by Donaldson at the Easton 16-yard line. Johnson threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Mitchell four plays later to make the score 21-0 with 11:25 left in the first half.

“I think we’ve got the best receivers in the state,” Johnson said.

The Cougars next two scores ended on Johnson touchdown passes as well.

Johnson threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to receiver Tyrone Wilson to make the score 28-0 with 10:04 remaining.

Johnson skipped through the middle of the Easton defense for a 3-yard touchdown on a fourth-and-goal play to make the score 34-0 with 7:14 left.