Haynesville’s third straight trip to New Orleans indeed proved the charm Thursday.
The No. 1 Golden Tornado (14-0) held off No. 2 Mangham (11-3) with a trio of timely takeaways and a late fourth-down stand to claim the Division-IV Non-Select state championship, 39-37 — the program’s first since 2014.
Coach David Franklin and company had been knocking at the door with back-to-back runner-up appearances, but finally managed to get back on the right side of the trip for their 18th title all-time.
“I don’t know what to say,” he smiled. “It’s certainly (better) being on this side than it was the last two years. We’ve had a really good year. We’re just so proud of our kids. You know, you’re always asked the question throughout the year: ‘Is this our year? Is this our year? How good are we gonna be?’
“In Haynesville, we kind of always measure against former teams, and there’s some really good former teams. So I don’t ever compare teams, but I can tell you right now this group is a state champion, so I’m gonna say that we’ve had a really good year since we’re state champs. And we’re so proud of our kids.”
Mangham, back in the Caesars Superdome for the first time since that 2014 game, ensured Haynesville would have to work from start to finish for its achievement.
The Dragons racked up a division-record 484 rushing yards and 31 total first downs and appeared to have answers for one Golden Tornado punch after another.
But Haynesville stripped away two fumbles, including a 25-yard scoop-and-score by sophomore Ethan Henderson, and scored again on a 77-yard interception return by LSU signee Isaiah Washington.
“Those were huge, those were huge,” Franklin said. “And at the same time, I think we had one turnover in a really, really bad time, and I questioned whether that was a turnover or not. But the turnovers that we got, they were all very timely. I mean, any time you can get something like that, that’s really the only time that we stopped them. They’re really, really good on offense.”
This story will be updated….
SCORING SUMMARY
FIRST QUARTER
10:01 — HHS — Ethan Henderson 25-yard fumble return (Elijah Bray kick) — HHS 7-0
9.48 — MHS — Reginald Roberson Jr. 97-yard kick return (Murphy Green kick) — tied 7-7
7:53 — HHS — Ethan Henderson 7-yard run (kick failed) — HHS 13-7
3:08 — MHS — Colby Casey 2-yard run (kick failed) — tied 13-13
1:34 — HHS — Isaiah Washington 54-yard run (kick failed) — HHS 19-13
SECOND QUARTER
10:25 — MHS — Colby Casey 5-yard run (Murphy Green kick) — MHS 20-19
10:05 — HHS — Ethan Henderson 59-yard run (run failed) — HHS 25-20
5:17 — HHS — Isaiah Washington 77-yard interception (Elijah Bray kick) — HHS 32-20
2:56 — MHS — Blake Pierce 17-yard pass from Colby Casey (Murphy Green kick) — HHS 32-27
THIRD QUARTER
1:14 — MHS — Willie Randolph 1-yard run (Ty Wilcher pass from Colby Casey) — MHS 35-32
FOURTH QUARTER
9:52 — HHS — Isaiah Washington 18-yard run (Elijah Bray kick) — HHS 39-35
0:00 — MHS — Team safety — HHS 39-37
