By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

Karr scored 25 unanswered points in the first half to jump out ahead of St. James on Friday night, and held off the Wildcats to capture a 25-7 non-district victory at St. James.

“I was disappointed that we didn’t compete better in the first half,” said St. James coach Rick Gaille. “We needed to do a better job responding to the type of challenge a team like Karr presents.”

The Cougars (9-1), the sixth-ranked team in Class 4A, racked up 211 of its 299 total yards on the ground to earn the win.

Jaleel Steib led St. James’ offensive attack with 18 carries for 78 yards. LaRohn Cambre added 40 yards and a touchdown on six carries. Alonzo Lewis caught five passes for 46 yards.

Karr quarterback Munchie Legaux totaled 146 yards and a touchdown.

Tailback Jonathon Hill gained 143 yards and a score on nine carries.

Tavis Clark put Karr on the board first via a 5-yard pass from Legaux that made it 6-0 in the first quarter.

Hill struck next, getting loose on an 85-yard run to push the lead to 13-0.

Justin Raymond made it a 19-point advantage when he scored on a 10-yard run.

Finally, Karr flashed what it could do in the kicking game when Jarrell Bennett broke the game wide open with his 81-yard punt return for a score.

“They really hit us with big plays,” said Gaille. “Those are preventable if we do a better job team wide of being where we need to be. But we really did a poor job in the first half.”

From there, the Wildcats’ defense stiffened.

But Cambre scored the team’s only points on a 4-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, and Karr held on to a comfortable lead.

Gaille said he hoped that the backbone his team showed in holding Karr scoreless in the second half proves to be something to build on for its opening round playoff matchup with Brusly.

“We played toe-to-toe with them in the second half,” he said.

“I thought it showed a lot of determination, and also that we’re capable.”

St. James finished the regular season 3-7.