Karr Overpowers Shaw in Rain-Soaked Opener
by: Mike Strom // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Mighty Karr is what Shaw coach Hank Tierney thought the Cougars were. And more.
Friday night’s 48-21 season-opening loss to the reigning Catholic League champions at Shaw’s Joe Zimmerman Stadium further solidified Tierney’s assessment of the state’s No. 2 ranked team in Class 5A.
That the game was played under such putrid conditions through a steady pouring rain only added to the misery.
“I have nothing but praise for those guys,’’ Tierney said of Coach Brice Brown, his staff, and players. “They do a great job. I had never been on the field with them and honestly wanted to coach against them. I wanted to watch them. They’re everything I’ve been told that they were and more. You don’t win the Catholic League your first two years in it and not have a tremendous program.’’
Karr (1-0) entered as the state’s No. 2-ranked team in Class 5A in the preseason rankings by both geauxpreps.com and the Louisiana Sports Writers Association and certainly played the part.
The Cougars scored four first-half touchdowns, two rushing, one passing, and one via punt return to create an initial 27-14 separation and never looked back while rolling up seven touchdowns, 21 first downs, 251 yards rushing, 134 passing, and 385 total against a Shaw team ranked No. 3 in Class 4A by both geauxpreps.com and the LSWA.
Shaw’s two-time reigning District 9-4A champions totaled 10 first downs, 164 rushing yards, and another 58 passing for 222 total yards while turning the ball over via interceptions three times. The season-opening effort followed another disappointing 20-7 exhibition loss to St. Augustine in the Ed Daniels Jamboree.
Junior quarterback John Johnson passed for 161 yards and three touchdowns, with two going to wide receiver Daejawn Smith and the other to tight end Cameron Mumford while running back Bryant Sanchez rushed 19 times for 130 yards with touchdown runs of 24 and 4 yards to pace the Cougars offensively.
LSU-committed wide receiver Taron Francis also returned a back-breaking punt 83 yards for a touchdown through the sloppy, choppy field conditions 42 seconds before halftime to produce the 27-14 lead at intermission.
Running back Tre Garrison scored Karr’s third touchdown on a 2-yard second-quarter run that came one play after the Cougars junior ran 51 yards to the 2. Garrison rushed for 82 yards on six carries.
Brown and Karr’s players were unavailable for comment afterward as they immediately departed the field for their team busses. Brown could not be reached via telephone either.
Defensive backs Hayward Howard and Cody Morris and defensive tackle Richard Anderson recorded interceptions for Karr’s defense, which harassed Shaw quarterback Mason Wilson throughout. Wilson completed no passes in the second half to finish 4 of 17 for 58 yards.
Michigan commit Jasper Parker was Shaw’s top offensive threat with 143 yards rushing on a deceptive 14 carries given that 65 of those yards came on his final carry in the fourth quarter for Shaw’s final touchdown scored against Karr reserves.
“They do what they do,’’ Tierney said of Karr. “They don’t do anything fancy. They throw it to those skilled guys and they make you tackle them. And you can’t tackle them. And they bait you into (going to) sleep and they throw it over the top. The quarterback manages that offense tremendously.
“It’s no secret why they’re a great program. They have a good kicking game. They play great defense. And they get the ball in the hands of guys who can make great plays. Plus, they’re monstrously big. Oh my God, they’re big.’’
Shaw struck first in taking a 7-0 first-quarter lead via Mason Wilson’s perfect, 39-yard screen pass to slot-back Gavin Richard. But the Eagles then surrendered three consecutive touchdowns and four in all in the first 24 minutes to the Cougars.
Karr drove 83, 36, and 80 yards for its first three touchdowns before Francis returned a punt 83 yards for the final first-half score that running back Bryant Sanchez followed with a two-point conversion run good for a 27-14 advantage at intermission.
Sanchez ran 24 yards to culminate Karr’s opening possession covering 83 yards that was helped along by a Shaw personal foul penalty that negated a potential Cougars’ punting situation.
Johnson found the tight end Mumford from 27 yards away with a completion for the second touchdown to cap the 36-yard drive set up by Howard’s interception. Garrison’s rushing accounted for 53 of Karr’s 80 yards and Karr’s third touchdown of the opening half.
Shaw trimmed Karr’s lead to 19-14 when Wilson again connected with Richard for an 11-yard scoring pass to cap a 25-yard drive set up by defensive back Nelson Carter’s fumble recovery. Wilson
Then came the fateful punt to Francis with less than a minute till halftime.
“It was poor coaching on my part,’’ Tierney said of punting to Francis. “We should have kicked (the ball) out of bounds with 54 seconds to go in the half. The best player in the state, we kicked it right to him on a line drive. You don’t even take that chance. You punt it out of bounds. It’s under a minute and they’re 60 yards away. That’s my fault. It was still a one-possession game going into the half. We’re only down then by one score.’’
Johnson, who completed 14 of 20 passes without being intercepted, passed for two second-half touchdowns covering 24 and 19 yards to wide receiver Daejawn Smith to account for Karr scores in the third and fourth period that preceded Sanchez’s 4-yard run to score the game’s final touchdown with 3 minutes, 27 seconds remaining.
“The most disappointing thing to me was (how) we couldn’t run the ball. That’s our deal,’’ Tierney said. “We’ve got to run the ball. Jasper’s touchdown was against their second defense. For the second week in a row, we could not run the ball. If we can’t run the ball, we’re not a good team. Our offense is predicated on us running the ball and then running play-action passes. We couldn’t do it.
“Honestly, I thought we would move the ball better. I made the excuse that we worked on Karr more than we worked on St. Aug (for the jamboree), which is true. We worked on Karr a whole lot all summer, so I really thought we would do better moving the ball. But it ultimately came down to their defensive line.
“When a defensive line is good, there is nothing that you can do. That’s what it was. We couldn’t protect Mason. Every time he dropped back, they were in his face. And then we couldn’t run the ball. If you can run the ball, then you loosen everything up. And they helped us. They turned it over. It could have been a lot worse.’’
Shaw (0-1) returns next Friday at 7 p.m. to play host to West Jefferson at Joe Zimmerman Stadium while Karr, a Division I Select state quarterfinalist, travels to Opelousas to face the reigning Division II Non-Select state champions.
“It’s one game,’’ Tierney said. “That’s what I told (the players), it’s one game,’’ Tierney said. “We can still go 9-1. But we didn’t improve from last week to this week. We were a little better offensively in the first half. But I didn’t think we improved the way we needed to improve to play against a team like Karr. So it’s a grind. It’s a nine-game grind and we’ve got to try to show improvement every week.’’
KARR 48, SHAW 21
Karr 13 14 8 13 — 48
Shaw 7 7 0 7 — 21
KARR SHAW
First downs 21 10
Rushing 251 164
Passing 161 58
Total offense 412 222
Passes 14-20-0 4-16-2
Punts 1-38.0 5-31.0
Fumbles/lost 3-3 1-0
Penalties 12-130 3-35
SCORING:
S: Gavin Richard 39 pass from Mason Wilson (Henry Zelaya kick).
K: Bryant Sanchez 24 run (Kick failed).
K: Cameron Mumford 27 pass from John Johnson (Jayden Hunter kick).
K: Tre Garrison 2 run (Kick failed).
S: Gavin Richard 11 pass from Mason Wilson (Henry Zelaya kick).
K: Taron Francis 83 punt return (Bryant Sanchez run).
K: Daejawn Smith 24 pass from John Johnson (John Johnson run).
K: Daejawn Smith 19 pass from John Johnson (Jayden Hunter kick).
S: Jasper Parker 65 run (Henry Zelaya kick).
K: Bryant Sanchez 4 run (Kick failed).