Zachary overcomes Pooka Williams, Hahnville to take Class 5A title

NEW ORLEANS — Pooka Williams finally ran out of moves.

Hahnville’s magical run ended with a thud as the Zachary Broncos claimed their second Class 5A Championship in the last three seasons, defeating the Tigers 34-14.

Zachary seized control of the game with a 27-point second quarter and by limiting Williams, who entered the game with over 1100 yards in the postseason, to just one score and a hard-earned 210 yards on 36 carries.

The Broncos did what no one else had been able to do all season, according to Hahnville Head Coach Nick Saltaformaggio, meet Williams at the second level to take away his big runs.

“Hat’s off to Zachary. They stopped me,” Williams said. “We didn’t play our best football game and they just came out here and went to work.”

After Williams put the Tigers ahead 7-0 with a 26-yard touchdown run, Zachary turned to its sophomore quarterback Keilon Brown.

Brown responded with an MVP perfomance. First, he led his team on a 10-play, 71 yard drive capped by a four yard touchdown run by Darweshi Sanders. Sanders ran for 117 yards and two scores in his final game.

“All the hype about Pooka…tonight, I played at a personal level because it was all about Pooka,” Sanders said. “They must’ve forgot there was another running back lining up, too.”

After the Zachary defense forced a three-and-out, Brown took the snap on first down and raced 80 yards nearly untouched to give Zachary a 13-0 lead. The game never got any closer.

Brown took his team down the field twice more before the half. Sanders would extend the lead to 13 with a 37-yard touchdown run to make it 20-7. Then, following a Pooka Williams fumble, Brown would throw a 30 yard touchdown strike to Trea Shropshire, pushing the lead to 27-7 at the half.

Playing in the shadow of former MVP Lindsey Scott, Brown finished the night with 189 rushing yards, 55 passing yards and two scores. He seemed unfazed by the big stage after the game.

“The standards are high (at Zachary). All the pressure’s on me,” said Brown, “but it was a team win. We just preach every day at practice moving on to the next play and staying positive.”

Coach David Brewerton watched his young quarterback play beyond his years and couldn’t help but be optimistic about his team’s future with Brown under center.

“Pretty nice to know he’s going to be the signal caller for a couple more years,” Brewerton said. “No question about that.”

The second half was mostly anticlimactic, with Hahnville unable to take advantage of the few opportunities that it had to get back into the ballgame. Lineback Chris Hart put the exclamation point on the Broncos’ night with a fumble recovery and touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

From there, Zachary and its large contingent of fans were ready to celebrate.

That victory gave the Baton Rouge area a 4-0 weekend at the Superdome, re-establishing the region as one of the true hotbeds for football in the state.