10 Edna Karr vs. Brother Martin eye-catchers

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Edna Karr started sluggishly and failed — outside of a couple bigger plays late — to get much going offensively Friday. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>But the Cougars' defense and special teams stepped up to hold Brother Martin to its early seven points, shut the Crusaders out the rest of the way and remain undefeated with a 19-7 comeback win.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Here were some of the standouts on each side of the physical, low-scoring Catholic League battle.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Corey Adams | 6-4, 250 DL | Edna Karr (2025)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='710991' first='Richard' last='Anderson'] | 6-3, 280 DL | Edna Karr (2026)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This duo of high-level prospects on the Cougars' defensive front were really good in helping slow down Brother Martin's run game to keep the deficit to just one score and then shut out the Crusaders the final three quarters to escape the low-scoring affair on top. They created good push up front, were able to quick slip and spin off blocks and showed the speed and conditioning to continue pursuing and making plays downfield when necessary.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1598152' first='Tyrik' last='Brigalia'] | 6-0, 180 LB/DB | Edna Karr (2024)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The senior linebacker caught our attention as much as any previously unranked player with his quickness and activity in the box, including an early fumble recovery — forced by junior safety/linebacker [player_tooltip player_id='291158' first='Arsenio' last='Bolds Jr.'] — and several tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage. Brigalia was also in the process of wrapping up a tackle further downfield in the third quarter on which sophomore safety [player_tooltip player_id='401932' first='Aiden' last='Hall'] was able to help swipe the ball loose for another fumble. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='900863' first='Levi' last='Darensbourg'] | 6-0, 170 DB | Edna Karr (2024)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The senior corner may have been the Cougars' steadiest performer in coverage throughout the night, largely locking down his side of the field, and also quickly dove on the aforementioned Hall-forced fumble to provide one of the pivotal, high-impact takeaway plays of the contest.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='421614' first='Rahji' last='Dennis'] | 6-0, 160 WR | Edna Karr (2024)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Cougars struggled offensively the vast majority of the evening, but finally broke through as the speedy Ole Miss commit flashed his track speed 75 yards up the sideline for a go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Dezemen Favorite | 5-8, 180 RB | Edna Karr (2024)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The senior running back helped seal away the victory with a 23-yard touchdown dash. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='426960' first='TaRon' last='Francis'] | 6-1, 190 WR | Edna Karr (2025)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The highly touted junior receiver came up with two of the highest-impact plays of the contest. Francis finally put the Cougars on the scoreboard with a 58-yard punt return in the third quarter to tie the game after the extra point. And he added a big hustle play late in the fourth quarter diving for a fumble recovery to keep Karr in possession with a 13-7 lead, rather than turn the ball back to the Crusaders for a potential game-tying or go-ahead opportunity.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Marco Flores | 5-10, 210 LB | Brother Martin (2024)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Outside of a small number of plays that got away, such as the Dennis screen, the Crusaders' defense was exceptional in so heavily slowing down the explosive Cougars, who entered the game averaging nearly 40. Credit to the unit as a whole playing cohesively, limiting the rushing attack and making like uncomfortable for the quarterback. Flores, as he did when Prep Redzone Louisiana caught the team's scrimmage, stood out with physical and high-impact play in the box, including at least a couple tackles for loss and a fourth-down stuff. Junior defensive linemen [player_tooltip player_id='855033' first='Nathan' last='Malek'], who recovered a big fumble, and [player_tooltip player_id='914019' first='Chase' last='Chesser'] and senior linebacker Will McKevitt were among other leaders.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='925501' first='Rex' last='LeBlanc'] | 5-10, 160 WR | Brother Martin (2026)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Crusaders have a strong corps of underclassman receivers on the rise. And with one of their best in [player_tooltip player_id='695357' first='Brodie' last='DuMontier'] sidelined, LeBlanc stepped up as much as anyone with an 18-yard touchdown in the first quarter, making a defender miss and dashing to the end zone, and a third-down conversion in the third quarter, hanging on through a hard hit, among his highlights. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='423650' first='Treshoun' last='Ware'] | 5-8, 172 DB | Brother Martin (2025)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As mentioned above, the teams' defensive units played well all-around. Ware stood out in the secondary with a couple of breakups and the late forced fumble that — albeit briefly — reopened the door for the Crusaders before the diving recovery by Francis. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='901115' first='Jordan' last='West'] | 5-8, 165 RB/WR/ATH | Brother Martin (2024)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The senior helped provide some early spark and great starting field position with his efforts as a punt returner and was one of two or three running backs that helped keep the Crusaders' offense ahead of the chains.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->