REPLAY: Tott’s arm, legs carry Mandeville over St. Paul’s, 38-28

MANDEVILLE – DeVon Tott made sure Mandeville maintained its grip on second place in District 6-5A Friday night.

Tott accounted for 395 of the Skippers’ 496 yards of total offense and all five touchdowns in a 38-28 victory over St. Paul’s Friday night at Sid Theriot Stadium.

The game was broadcast live by Crescent City Sports.

Mandeville (5-1, 4-1) is in sole possession of second place in 6-5A, one game behind Ponchatoula, which handed the Skippers their only defeat 17-14 two weeks ago. The Green Wave improved to 5-0 in league play with a 49-14 win over Fontainebleau Friday.

Tott completed 20 of 24 passes for 328 yards and five touchdowns and added 67 yards rushing on eight attempts. His TD passes covered 39 yards to Landon Ibieta, 29 and 38 yards to Caden Costa, 63 yards to Logan Thibodeaux and 11 yards to Douglas McGowan.

In six games, the senior quarterback has 19 touchdown passes.

“DeVon Tott had a great game again,” said Mandeville coach Hutch Gonzales, whose team knocked off St. Paul’s for the second consecutive season. “He’s definitely a special talent. I think he can play at any level.”

McGowan accounted for 168 yards, with 23 carries for 106 yards and five catches for 62 yards. Ibieta had eight receptions for 100 yards.

Costa, an Ole Miss commitment, drilled a 28-yard field goal on Mandeville’s first possession – set up by a St. Paul’s fumble on the first play from scrimmage – to give the Skippers the early lead. It would stay 3-0 after the Wolves blocked a 53-yard attempt by Costa late in the first quarter.

The lead changed hands four times in a wild second quarter.

Mitchell Smith’s 5-yard run gave St. Paul’s a 7-3 lead with 7:47 left in the half, but the Tott-to-Ibieta connection gave the Skippers the lead back just 80 seconds later.

The Wolves (4-2, 3-2) answered five plays later with a 30-yard touchdown from Grant Billson to Garrett Lauderbach – the first of two TD connections for the pair – but Mandeville still had plenty of time in the half and Tott found Costa for a 29-yard catch and run to give the Skippers a 17-14 lead with 31 seconds left before halftime.

Mandeville misplayed the second-half kickoff and had to start the possession at its 4-yard line, but it took just five plays for Tott and the offense to cover the 96 yards. Thibodeaux’s TD catch made him the 11th different Skipper to score an offensive touchdown this year.

Lauderbach’s second touchdown pulled the Wolves back within 24-21 with five minutes left in the third quarter. St. Paul’s forced a fumble on the next possession and had a chance to re-take the lead, but four plays later, Mandeville’s John O’Connor got the takeaway back with a fumble recovery.

Tott did almost all the work on the ensuing 70-yard drive, including a scramble and touchdown pass to McGowan on the final play of the third quarter to make it a two-score game once again.

Tott’s fifth touchdown pass made it 38-21 with 8:15 to play, but St. Paul’s wasn’t finished.

The Wolves’ Kier Nunez blocked and recovered a punt at the 1-yard line, setting up Danny Sears’ short touchdown run.

Sears got a hand on the ensuing on-side kick, but Mandeville recovered and ran out the clock.

Mandeville went into the week at No. 14 in the unofficial Class 5A power ratings. If the Skippers want to be at home for the opening week of the postseason, the answer is simple.

“Win,” Gonzales said. “You don’t get a lot of points accumulated when everyone (in District 6-5A) is knocking each other off, so … you want to get the 10 (points) for the win.”