Griffins and Spartans cruise to blowout victories
Both East Ascension and Dutchtown picked up dominating wins at home during week three.
The Griffins came into their matchup with Covington as one of only two undefeated teams in Ascension Parish, and they remained that way when the clock hit zeros.
In the previous two seasons, the games between Dutchtown and Covington have both gone down to the wire. In 2017, the Lions won a 40-34 shootout, and last season, the Griffins won a 19-16 affair on the strength of a late-game field goal.
No heroics were needed in the waning moments this time around. Dutchtown controlled the game and won by a score of 24-6.
Although, the Griffins did fall behind early in the contest.
Covington took a quick 6-0 lead after quarterback Blake Sharp hit receiver Chandler Washington for an 87-yard touchdown. But the Dutchtown defense made sure they never scored again.
The Lion lead lasted until the second quarter, when Griffin quarterback Brayden Fritsche scored on a six-yard touchdown run to give Dutchtown a 7-6 lead.
The Griffins then closed out the half with two Dylan Sampson touchdown runs that gave them a comfortable 21-6 advantage at the break.
In the third quarter, Dutchtown added a 30-yard Cohen Parent field goal that put the game out of reach.
The Griffins picked off Sharp twice, and they held running back Quintez Laurant to just 53 yards on 14 carries.
Meanwhile, Sampson had a monster game. He piled up 163 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries. Fritsche added 31 yards and a score on nine rushing attempts.
Dutchtown is now a perfect 3-0. That's the best start they've had since Guy Mistretta took over as head coach three years ago.
In fact, this is the first time the Griffins have started off 3-0 since 2011. That was the year Landon Collins helped lead them to an undefeated regular reason.
This week, Dutchtown will host Vandebilt Catholic, who will limp into the contest at 1-2.
East Ascension also picked up a big home win on Friday night.
The Spartans were coming off of a tough 41-23 loss on the road against Haughton in week two. They were looking to bounce back against Northwest, and that's exactly what they did.
East Ascension head coach Darnell Lee was actually the head coach at Northwest, before becoming an assistant with the Spartans, and then eventually taking over as the head coach.
East Ascension got off to a slow start against the Vikings.
Late in the first quarter, running back Ethan Bagwell scored to give them the lead, but Northwest's defense came up with an interception that they turned into a touchdown pass from Montaze Sam to Keshaun Lazard.
This gave Northwest an 8-6 lead, but East Ascension answered with a run of five unanswered touchdowns. That included scores from Navell Chopin, Steven McBride and Jordan Goodlow.
The win improved the Spartans' record to 2-1 overall.
East Ascension has already played two top-10 teams from Class 5A. Now, they'll face another huge test.
On Friday night, they'll host Warren Easton, who was ranked sixth in Class 4A, before losing to second-ranked Edna Karr.
Easton is led by four-star running back Ashaad Clayton, who is ranked by 247sports as the 150th-ranked prospect in the country and the fourth-ranked player in Louisiana.
He currently has 14 scholarship offers--most notably from LSU, Alabama and Georgia.