Leesville’s Ford in high gear, RB puts up ridiculous numbers in first two weeks

Published 8:00 am Tuesday, September 17, 2024

 Leesville’s Xavier Ford is putting up video game-like numbers two games into his senior season.

In Week 1, he ran for 311 yards and six touchdowns on 40 carries.

He topped that in Week 2 with 400 yards and six more touchdowns in a 49-32 win over Tioga.

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With 711 yards and a dozen touchdowns, Ford is averaging just over 10 yards a carry.

If he keeps his current pace, he will top 3,500 yards before the playoffs begin.

For his career, he is approaching 6,000 yards with 5,837 and 80 rushing touchdowns.

Bigfoot

St. Louis Catholic is off to a rough start at 0-2, but do-it-all kicker Zachry Sugandi-Truitt is proving he is the area’s top kicker and one of the best in the state.

He kicked a school-record 59-yard field goal with room to spare against Bunkie Saturday at Matt Walker Memorial in Sulphur.

He was a yard shy of the state record (60) set by Ascension Episcopal’s Peyton Woodring in 2022.

Sugandi-Truitt also averaged 50 yards on seven punts and 57 yards on three kickoffs with one touchback.

Jack-of-all-trades

Hamilton Christian quarterback sophomore Javon Vital put on a show Friday in the Warriors’ 60-7 win over Highland Baptist.

Vital scored six touchdowns — two on the ground, two through the air and a pair on punt returns.

He ran for 101 yards, averaging more than 20 yards a carry and completed 12 of 15 passes for 155 yards, plus 105 total yards on his two punt returns.

Six left

Two weeks into the high school football season, six undefeated teams — Sulphur, South Beauregard, Westlake, DeQuincy, Vinton and Grand Lake — remain in Southwest Louisiana.

Grand Lake is 2-0 for the fifth time in six seasons after blanking Rosepine 27-0 on Saturday, and Westlake made its third 2-0 start since the 2021 season after handily beating LaGrange 56-14. South Beauregard made its first 2-0 start since 2020, beating Washington-Marion 38-14 on Saturday.

For Vinton (2018), DeQuincy (2016) and Sulphur (2005), it has been several years since they started a season 2-0. 

Vinton is coming off back-to-back one-win seasons and beat Merryville 40-14, while DeQuincy handed Lake Arthur its first loss, 31-14. The Tors beat Northside 34-19.

Aerial shows

Westlake’s Brody Anderson and Lake Arthur’s Cameron Bonin aired it out last week.

Bonin completed 12 of 22 passes for a career-high 254 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in a 31-14 loss at DeQuincy on Friday.

On Saturday, Anderson led the Rams to a 56-14 win over LaGrange. He completed 13 of 17 passes for 238 yards with four touchdowns to one interception.

Anderson’s favorite target was once again senior Kevin Rideau, a Nicholls State commitment who caught five passes for 135 yards and scored three times on receptions of 63, 38 and 6 yards.

Volleyball

Sam Houston’s 10-match win streak ended over the weekend, while Sulphur extended its to nine matches .

St. Michael the Archangel handed Sam Houston its first loss on Saturday at the Dutchtown tournament, 25-21, 25-22.

Sulphur beat White Castle, GEO Next Generation Istrouma, Ascension Catholic and Central Private over the weekend at the Tara tournament to improve to 9-2 after starting the season 0-2.