By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

St. James senior Kenny Zenon waited patiently for his chance to have a true breakout game in this, his senior season.

Friday night brought that opportunity. And Zenon made good.

Zenon brought his “A-game” to Newman as he rushed for 138 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Wildcats over the undefeated Greenies, 34-13 in a District 10-2A game.

Zenon consistently banged out yardage all night — his longest run was 15 yards, yet he averaged over seven yards a carry on his 19 attempts.

“We were able to take advantage of what the defense presented us early on,” said St. James coach Rick Gaille. “They were perimeter oriented (defensively), and Kenny was able to not only take advantage of that, but get a lot of extra yards by running hard.”

Gaille said his senior running back may lack prototypical size at 5’5, 165 pounds, but it doesn’t seem like it once he takes the field.

“He’s a guy that brings everyone on our team up,” Gaille said. “He may be short in stature, but he plays a lot bigger. He runs with great strength.”

Zenon led a St. James (4-2, 2-0) attack that rushed for 261 yards. Shane Grows ran nine times for 47 yards.

Newman quarterback Wes Luquette was able to pass for 248 yards and two touchdowns, each to top receiver Jeffery Hampton. But he was intercepted twice, and the touchdowns came after St. James had already built a 27-0 lead.

“The defense played outstanding throughout the game,” Gaille said. “In the second quarter, Newman (5-1, 1-1) was presented with a lot of opportunities. We punted into the wind, and they started three possessions in the plus end of the field.

“But we never allowed them the opportunity to make a big play. We made them play a lot of snaps, and that made things difficult for them.”

The Wildcats held the Greenies to 80 yards in the first half, allowing them to built what would prove to be an insurmountable lead for Newman.

St. James led 6-0 in the first quarter after Zenon’s two-yard touchdown plunge began the Wildcats scoring. His 15-yard scoring jaunt in the second quarter made it 13-0.

Zenon scored on one and 15-yard runs in the third quarter to make it 27-0.

In the fourth, his fifth touchdown came sandwiched between eight and 11-yard scoring passes from Luquette to Hampton. But it was too little, too late for Newman.

Alonzo Lewis caught four passes for 90 yards for SJH, all from quarterback Marcus Dumas. Rojae Dumas had 10 solo tackles and totaled 211 yards on five kickoff returns. Terrance Green had three sacks.

The defending district champions, St. James has had the ideal start to 10-2A play, defeating Riverside and Newman in consecutive weeks, two of the district’s stronger teams. A win over Fisher would likely mean a what would virtually be one-game playoff with John Curtis for the district title.

And that would be just fine by Gaille.

“It’s all we could have asked for at the beginning of the season,” Gaille said. “We were worried about opening up with two on the road against the teams we played. But if we can win and set up one game for the title, then we’ve accomplished what we wanted to do.”