By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Behind Jeremy Jackson’s 22 carries for 233 yards and four touchdowns, West St. John rolled past host Ascension Catholic 54-33 Friday night.

Two Rams rushers topped 100 yards as Bradley Borne provided a counterpunch to go along with Jackson, carrying 13 times for 128 yards and a score. Quarterback Austin Howard completed 11 of 24 pass attempts for 211 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 74 yards and a score on six carries. Morrell Bartholomew led WSJ in receiving with 92 yards and a score.

Patrick Butler led Ascension Catholic with six carries for 112 yards.

Ascension Catholic kept pace with WSJ (6-2, 3-0) for a half, trailing 34-25 at the break. The Bulldogs scored on the very first play from scrimmage on an end-around, Gilbert Allen ripping off a 52-yard touchdown run.

“It’s very hard to simulate that type of offense in practice,” said West St. John coach Robert Valdez of the Ascension Catholic “Wing-T” option. “You don’t see it very often. We were able to adjust as the game went along, but they got us right off the bat.”

Back to back touchdown runs lifted the Rams back ahead, Jeremy Jackson scoring from 67 yards and then from 19 yards out.

“Jeremy’s a bellcow. He really came to play,” said Valdez.

D.J. Latino lifted Ascension Catholic (5-3, 2-1) back ahead with a pair of touchdown passes, the second a 15-yarder to Butler which gave Ascension Catholic a 19-14 lead. West St. John recaptured the lead on a Bartholomew touchdown reception, then did so again when Jackson responded to a Bulldogs score with a 3-yard scoring run.

From there, the Rams’ defense stepped up, allowing just a single touchdown in the second half.

“Our defense played a very, very good half of football,” said Valdez. “They were burning us out on the edge in the first half. We were able to cut that out. We kept pushing the tempo offensively and it came out to our advantage.”