By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — West St. John coach Robert Valdez played his role of a veteran head coach to a tee after his Rams put together a 45-6 victory at Bogalusa Friday night, exhibiting cautious optimism and noting that there was plenty for his team to clean up in the upcoming week.

But he was still clearly a happy man after the game. His Rams landed an early knockout punch upon the Lumberjacks, going up 24-0 in the opening quarter and never letting the outcome come close to being in doubt.

“We came out pushing our tempo and came up with scores on our first two drives,” said Valdez. “The defense comes up with a safety, and we hit on some extra points with our swinging gate play on special teams. We really fired on all cylinders in that first quarter.’

“After that, I thought that we came down from that high a little. We came out with so much intensity early, so much momentum and adrenaline, and it can be hard to maintain that for four quarters. That’s always your goal, but we got a little sloppy later on. We’ve got a tough one coming up, so we’ll need to sustain that effort longer next time out.”

Rams’ tailback Jeremy Jackson had another huge night, totaling 212 total yards  and three touchdowns on just 13 touches (135 rushing).

Austin Howard completed 9 of 20 passes for 143 yards and three touchdowns and no interceptions.

WSJ struck first on a Keith Miller 29-yard touchdown reception from Howard. Howard ran for a two-point conversion to make it 8-0.

Jackson got on the board for his first score on a 12-yard run that made it 14-0. Another Howard conversion run made it 16-0.

The Rams’ defense pushed the lead to 18-0 after forcing a safety. Jackson scored on another 12-yard run to make it 24-0, and he combined with Howard for a 60-yard scoring play to make it 31-6.

Morrell Bartholomew and Bradley Borne each scored touchdowns to round out the Rams’ scoring, on a 28-yard reception and a 2-yard run respectively.

Koi Rainey made a key interception in the first quarter to help set up WSJ’s initial score.