By Daniel Green

Special to the American Press

LEESVILLE — The 100th all-time meeting between Leesville and DeRidder was quite the shootout.

A game full of offensive fireworks and penalties, Leesville reclaimed the storied Hooper Trophy behind six touchdowns from Caleb Gallashaw, taking a 49-41 victory over DeRidder Friday night at Wampus Cat Stadium.

Leesville (5-2, 2-0) has won four of the last five meetings against DeRidder (4-3, 0-1).

DeRidder standout Ronnie Crosby returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown. The Dragons executed a perfect sky kick and took over at the Leesville 34. Nine plays later, Alex Archield powered into the end zone for a 14-0 advantage.

Gallashaw scored the first of his six touchdowns on a 44-yard run, only to see Crosby, his DeRidder counterpart, score on a 16-yard TD pass from Ethan Maples.

Still in the opening quarter, Gallashaw ended a six-play, 88-yard drive with a 22-yard score, cutting the gap to 21-14.

Just over midway into the second quarter, Crosby rambled 30 yards for a TD and a 28-14 DeRidder edge. Leesville got a 13-yard TD run from Parker Maks to get to within a touchdown, 28-21.

DeRidder found itself facing a third-and-20 deep in its own territory, but Maples found Crosby on the wheel route for a 74-yard TD. However, the Dragons missed the PAT for a 34-21 lead.

Leesville managed to put a score on the board as Gallashaw scored on a 27-yard TD run. Caden Catron connected on the PAT to trim the Leesville deficit to six at the half, 34-28.