Replay: John Ehret runs its way to 20-6 victory over Landry-Walker for district lead

NEW ORLEANS – If ever a drive that produced no points set the tone for a game, it was John Ehret’s first offensive drive of the night in its District 8-5A showdown with Landry-Walker Friday at Behrman Stadium.

The Patriots used up nine minutes and 20 seconds in an 18-play, 70-yard march that ended on downs at the Chargin’ Bucs’ 17-yard line. Almost all of it came from the legs of Ehret running back Damond Leonard, who ran the ball 14 times for 50 yards on the drive.

Leonard was the bellcow on this night, rushing 34 times for 155 yards and a touchdown as Ehret took sole possession of first place in the district with a 20-6 victory over Landry-Walker in a game seen live on Crescent City Sports.

Ehret (6-1, 4-0), the No. 4 team in CCS’ Class 5A rankings, leads the district by a game over Landry-Walker (3-4, 3-1).

Travis Mumphrey passed for a pair of touchdowns and the Ehret defense did its part to slow down a talented Landry-Walker offense, but this night was about the Patriots’ ground game.

“We wanted to be basic,” said Ehret coach Marcus Scott. “We wanted to keep their athletes off the field. They have some explosive players (on offense). We wanted to limit their touches and do that by running the ball and controlling the clock.”

It took Ehret until its third possession to get on the board. A blocked punt set up a short field, and two plays later, Mumphrey hit Jacoby Windmon on a 27-yard touchdown pass to give the Patriots a 7-0 lead with 6:20 remaining in the second quarter.

After Landry-Walker starter Tory Cargo led the Chargin’ Bucs to only two first downs in three possessions, Chargin’ Bucs coach Emanuel Powell turned to Ja’Quan Dorsey, who provided a spark with his arm and legs. He engineered a four-play, 75-yard drive that was capped by a 44-yard catch and run by Dwyan Griffin. The point-after try failed, leaving Landry-Walker down by a point.

The Chargin’ Bucs forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and appeared poised to take the lead before half when Dorsey led them back inside the 10. But Ehret linebacker and LSU commitment Donte’ Starks stripped Dorsey on a keeper and the Patriots got it back at the 6-yard line with 25 seconds left in the half.

“It was huge,” Scott said of the takeaway. “Anytime you’re down (near the goal line) and can keep points off the board, that’s big.”

“It was one of the key plays, if not the key play,” Powell said.

Ehret got the second-half kickoff and turned back to Leonard, who ran it on five of the first six plays of the third quarter, setting a 69-yard, 11-play drive in motion. Mumphrey found Jordan Pickney on a fourth-down, 21-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-6 with 7:04 left in the third quarter.

After an exchange of punts, Landry-Walker had a chance to answer, but Dorsey’s fourth-down pass from the Ehret 10 was broken up.

Another fourth-down stop on the Chargin’ Bucs’ next possession gave the Patriots the ball near midfield, and it was time to feed Leonard some more.

He rushed six times for 48 yards, including the game-clinching 2-yard touchdown run, on a nine-play drive that took 5:26 off the clock.

Then, after Kaine Williams intercepted Cargo – who replaced an injured Dorsey in the fourth quarter – Leonard ran out the clock with four more runs.

“We have some good stuff in the passing game,” Scott said, “but we didn’t want to get impatient and start throwing the ball because you play into their hands. You have to run the ball against this team.”

For the Chargin’ Bucs, it was their first district loss in its last 24 games, dating back to a 2015 loss to Chalmette.

“All we can do is learn from it,” Powell said. “We’ve got to get better. At the end of the day, it’s not the end of the world. It was a football game we wanted to win.”

Landry-Walker meets Bonnabel on Thursday, while Ehret faces East Jefferson next Friday.