City Rivalry Renewed: Kennedy Claims Victory Over Warren Easton in Hard-Fought Battle
by: Mike Strom // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
John F. Kennedy may have had a score to settle against Warren Easton given that the Cougars had lost five straight meetings against their cross-town rivals dating to 2015.
Cougars coach Lynarise Elpheage disagreed, emphasizing that the state’s No. 5 ranked team in Class 3A entered New Orleans’ City Park Pan American Stadium looking forward rather than back prior to rolling to a 36-26 non-district victory Friday night to culminate the mid-week chaos created by the arrival of Hurricane Francine.
Quarterback Amyne Darensbourg and wide receivers James Evans and Kingston Jones led that forward charge offensively while linebacker Calvin Sparrow paced a Cougars defensive effort that helped reverse a 48-0 loss to the Eagles from three years ago in 2021.
Darensbourg accounted for 273 of Kennedy’s 357 yards and three touchdowns with his passing and running while Evans completed an 87-yard scoring strike to Jones on the Cougars’ first play from scrimmage before catching touchdown passes of 45 and 1 yards from Darensbourg.
Jones totaled five receptions good for 199 yards with touchdown catches of 87 and 67 yards, with the second score delivered by Darensbourg, who also rushed for 79 yards on 14 carries. The Cougars rushed for 76 yards as a team.
“It’s a big win,’’ Elpheage, in his 5th season as JFK head coach, said after improving to 1-2 versus Easton. “Easton is a hell of a football team. They’re well-coached. Jerry Phillips does a great job of coaching. They’re disciplined. We knew it was going to take everything we had to be in this game. The boys fought and I’m proud of them.’’
Kennedy (2-0) won its ninth straight regular-season outing dating to last season when the Cougars as a No. 4 seed advanced to the state quarterfinals following a 9-1 regular season to finish 10-2. The Cougars, 10-2 in 2023, have advanced to the state quarterfinals in each of the past two seasons under Elpheage, a Tulane cornerback who was a freshman when Phillips was a senior linebacker for the Green Wave.
Easton (1-1) was coming off of a 28-0 victory against L.B. Landry in its Sept. 6 opener following a 4-6 season in 2023 that included LHSAA sanctions for illegal recruiting that barred the Eagles from the postseason. The Eagles managed only 225 yards versus the Cougars with 151 of that total coming via the running game and tailback Thomas Vaughn’s 138 yards on 19 carries.
“It wasn’t so much payback,’’ Elpheage said. “(Easton was) the next team on the schedule and we were looking forward. Hats off to Jerry Phillips. He is such a good coach. He taught me the game when we were at Tulane. I am forever grateful.’’
It was the Cougars who early on did most of the schooling in bolting to a 20-0 lead via Evans’ long scoring pass to Jones and subsequent scoring passes from Darensbourg to Evans covering 45 and 1 yard. After surrendering a touchdown to the Eagles, via Carl Reed’s 26-yard pass to Vaughn and ensuing two-point run, Darensbourg and Jones promptly team up on a 67-yard scoring pass with 1:22remaining till halftime to account for a 27-14 advantage.
Reed and wide receiver Devon Edwards then connected on a 55-yard scoring pass with 9 seconds remaining until intermission to answer for Easton.
The Cougars answered that score on their opening possession of the third quarter by driving 89 yards in 8 plays to take a 33-14 advantage on running back Omarion Brown’s 1-yard run.
Easton again answered almost immediately when Vaughn burst 70 yards for Easton’s third touchdown and Reed ran in his second two-point conversion to trim Kennedy’s lead to 33-22. The Eagles defense next recorded two safeties to cut the deficit to 33-26 by the end of the third period.
Place-kicker Nahun Lalin iced the victory seven minutes into the fourth quarter with a 19-yard field goal that culminated in a 10-play, 71-yard possession. Lalin also hit 3 of 5 PAT kicks while the Cougars defense kept Easton from advancing to JFK territory on its final two possessions.
“We fought hard,’’ Darensbourg said after completing 10 of 20 passes good for 194 yards and three touchdowns without being intercepted. “We fought adversity. We had one day of practice (due to the arrival of Hurricane Francine). We watched film one day. We had a one-day walkthrough on Thursday. And we produced.’’
The Cougars played virtually turnover-free except for a botched shotgun snap that produced a lost fumble but also had to overcome 15 penalties totaling 137 yards. Wide receiver Jonathan Strowder had an 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to open the second half negated by blocking-in-the-back penalties.
Easton was penalized 12 times for 85 yards in the contest which additionally included numerous injury timeouts for players cramping while lasting three hours, 30 minutes.
Reed completed 6 of 16 passes for 68 yards with the 26-yard score to Vaughn in addition to rushing 4 times for 20 yards and the pair of two-point conversion runs. Senior backup Josh Jones relieved Reed in the fourth period and completed 2 of 5 passes for 6 yards.
Kennedy seeks to remain undefeated when it plays at St. Amant on Thursday while Easton hits the road next Friday for a non-district game at Slidell before opening District 9-5A Catholic League play the following week versus state-ranked St. Augustine.
“We fought at the end,’’ Darensbourg said. “Everybody pulled together. We fought as brothers.’’
Elpheage was pleased particularly with how his team responded to each Easton challenge.
“That shows championship character,’’ Elpheage said. “We have a veteran offense and we expect that from them. I was more nervous when it was 20-0 because I know how good of a football team (Easton is). They can strike at any moment.’’
KENNEDY 36, EASTON 26
Warren Easton 0 14 12 0 — 26
John F. Kennedy 13 14 6 3 — 36
WE JFK
First downs 13 11
Rushing 151 76
Passing 74 281
Total offense 225 357
Passes 8-21-0 11-21-0
Punts 7-26.6 3-38.0
Fumbles/lost 1-0 2-1
Penalties 12-85 15-137
SCORING:
JK: Kingston Jones 87 pass from James Evans (Nahun Lalin kick).
JK: James Evans 45 pass from Amyne Darensbourg (Kick failed).
JK: James Evans 1 pass from Amyne Darensbourg (Nahun Lalin kick).
WE: Thomas Vaughn 26 pass from Carl Reed (Carl Reed run).
JK: Kingston Jones 67 pass from Amyne Darensbourg (Nahun Lalin kick).
WE: Davon Edwards 55 pass from Carl Reed (Run failed).
JK: Omarion Brown 1 run (Kick failed).
WE: Thomas Vaughn 70 run (Carl Reed run).
WE: Safety awarded after Kennedy’s offensive line was penalized for holding in the end zone.
WE: Jaedon Phillips sacked Amyne Darensbourg in the end zone for a safety.
JK: Nahun Lalin 19 field goal.