The Minden Crimson Tide fell to the West Feliciana Saints 49-7 in the first round of the non-select Division II playoffs Friday night in St.,Francisville.
Minden, the No. 21 seed, finished the season 6-4. The Crimson Tide played one less game than last season and increased their victory total by one.
“It was a good season,” Minden Head Coach Spencer Heard said. “It was kind of ups and downs, especially the latter part of the season, but we were playing good competition down there (at West Feliciana).
“Overall, I felt like our guys played hard and got better as the year went on. (Friday night) we played a very good team. I think they’ll have a chance to maybe make a little run in the playoffs.”
Minden had seven seniors.
“I’m proud of them, the work they put in, guys that had been with us a long time and did a lot of work, so appreciate their effort.”
West Feliciana (10-1), the No. 12 seed, visits No. 5 Salmen in the second round
Minden trailed just 7-0 after the first quarter. But West Feliciana blew the game open with four touchdowns in the second.
The Saints led 42-0 before the Tide scored their only touchdown on a 2-yard run by Lucas Owens Jr. with 3:01 left in the third quarter.
Per stats kept for the KBEF-FM broadcast, West Feliciana outgained Minden 402-218.
The Saints had 237 yards rushing and 137 passing,
Ean Hills scored four touchdowns in the first half on a 21-yard pass from Brooks Hebert and runs of 3, 57 and 5 yards. The latter came with 8 seconds left.
Hills finished with 94 yards on 11 carries. Tookie Dorsey had 92 on just four.
Junior Jaden Johnson led Minden with 72 yards rushing on five attempts. Owens, also a junior, had 51 on 13 attempts.
Once the Tide got behind, they were forced to throw. Sophomore Kaiden King completed 8-of-24 passes for 62 yards with two interceptions.
Abreon Curry, another junior, caught two passes for 51 yards.
The good news for the Tide is that barring unforeseen circumstances Johnson, Owens, Curry and King will all be back next season.
Minden’s top two tacklers in the regular season, linebackers Javen Calloway and Braylan Ferrell, are also juniors.
Loreauville 41, North Webster 8: The Knights’ season came to an end in the second round of the non-select Division III playoffs in Loreauville.
North Webster, the No. 24 seed, finished 4-7, equalling its victory total of last season. Loreauville (8-3), the No. 9 seed, visits No. 8 Church Point in the second round Minden.