Down in Edgard, Louisiana, the Pine Raiders faced the West St. John Rams this past Friday and won with a score of 63-24.
The win wrapped up the best regular season won-loss record in the history of Pine High School, at 8-2.
With the win, Pine collected the #7 seed and will face #26 Red River High School Friday night at Pine. Red River is located in Coushatta, between Alexandria and Shreveport, and the team and its fans face a 4 1/2 hour drive to Pine for the playoff game.
Against West St. John, Pine’s James Owens ran for 72 yards and scored 3 touchdowns. Von Johnson added 63 yards and a touchdown, and Aiden McIntosh got 83 yards and a touchdown.
Braxton Newman and Christian Williams also scored touchdowns on the ground. Quarterback Luke Spears completed 9 out of 14 passes for 139 yards and threw for two touchdowns. He connected with DJ Garrett for the first touchdown, and Garrett gained 79 total yards in the game. Right before halftime, James Owens made an amazing 23-yard catch for a touchdown.
On the defensive side, Ethan Ryals and Christian Williams each made 6 tackles to stop the Rams. Cayden Stogner had 2 sacks, and Zachary Thomas and Lyrian Hart each had one.
Pine wraps up its regular season with an outstanding 424 points for vs. 174 points against --- the best offensive output in District 8-3A. The Raiders have a district record of 2-2 in what is considered to be the toughest 3A district in the state, with four 8-3A teams ranked in the top ten statewide.
If Pine defeats Red River Friday night, they would then face the winner of the 23 Avoyelles-10 Kinder game on Friday, November 17.
