St. Amant fends off early challenge, pulls away to defeat East Jefferson, 48-20

After a back-and-forward opening quarter, St. Amant separated themselves from East Jefferson en-route to a 48-20 victory Friday night in Sorento.

St. Amant had success with a two quarterback system, alternating Slade Zeppuhar and Cole Poirrier. Both players tossed and ran for scores.

“I see very little difference between the two,” said St. Amant coach David Oliver. “We’re just going to play it out and see. I think they both add a little something.”

After a solid start, East Jefferson finished with less than 100 total yards.

“I’m not an excuse maker, we’re a Class 5A team just like they are,” East Jefferson coach Frank Allelo said. “They’ve got the numbers to be a real 5A team. I’ve got to play a lot of guys two ways and when you play a team that has a whole sideline full of guys, it catches up with you. It’s a credit to their program.”

The visiting Warriors doomed their chances with miscues, amassing over 100 yards in penalties and allowing several sacks.

“I told the referee that he took more land than the Russians tonight,” said Allelo. “No team can win with the penalties that we had tonight.”

East jeffersom scored first on a one yard touchdown run from Isaiah Lee and but their lead lasted just seconds. Lathan Vaughn scored from 54 yards out on the Gators’ first play from scrimmage. Reggie Sims capped St. amant’s next possession with a three-yard touchdown but the Warriors evened the scored on a 48-yard pass from Oliver to Jeremaine Guillard.

The Gators scored a pair of touchdowns later in the first half to take command via scoring runs from Poirrier and Sims, who hit paydirt with just 32 seconds to go to give his team a commanding 27-13 advantage at the break.

“I thought we played well on defense aside from giving up three busted plays,” Oliver said after his team bounced back from an opening-week loss to Carver. “I’ll never get upset about a win. we needed to a win especially after last week.”

St. Amant (1-1) will visit Denham Springs in week three while East Jefferson (0-2) hopes to break through for a victory at Lupin field in New Orleans against quarterback Arch Manning and unbeaten Newman.