When North DeSoto opened District 1-4A play with a 17-point victory over rival Northwood, one could have assumed that the route to a district title would be downhill from there.

 

But that’s before the Griffins were tied in the fourth quarter at Booker T. Washington, a three-win team whose victories had come against Lakeview, Green Oaks and Bossier.

 

North DeSoto did score two fourth-quarter touchdowns and hold on for a 20-14 win, leaning on the rushing attack with Kenny Thomas totaling 200 yards and two scores.

 

The passing game struggled for a second straight week as quarterback Luke Delafield completed 14-of-21 passes for 128 yards and two interceptions.

 

That came after a 121-yard effort on 6-of-15 passing with no passing touchdowns against Northwood.

North DeSoto (3-2, 2-0 District 1-4A) clearly misses receiver Cole Cory, especially his field-stretching abilities as the leading receiver in the state in 2023.

 

But nobody not named West Monroe has slowed North DeSoto’s rushing attack.

 

The Griffins will now turn around a host an undefeated Minden squad (5-0, 2-0) who has cruised ever since a double-overtime win against Mansfield in the season-opener.

 

The Crimson Tide breezed through Homer, North Webster, Woodlawn and Loyola by at least two scores, relying on a defense that’s allowed less 10 points per game in the last four.

 

The Minden defense shrugged off a Loyola passing touchdown on the first play of the game to surge to a 28-13 win. While the jury may still be out on BTW to some extent, Loyola appeared to be the other contender with Minden to the favorite Griffins through the first half of the season.

 

 

Mansfield looked to be in trouble as North Caddo surged to a 24-6 lead and led 30-12 with eight minutes remaining in the game.

 

But the Wolverines scored three touchdowns in that span to force overtime, including two scores in the final 2:30.

 

Mansfield prevailed in extra time, taking a 52-44 win in double overtime just a couple of weeks after losing a double-overtime contest to a Minden team that’s still undefeated.

 

While North Caddo corralled Terrell Pegues (55 yards, two touchdowns), other Wolverines rose to the occasion. Jaylen O’Neal gained 135 rushing yards, including an 82-yard touchdown, while Twin Hamilton added another 130 and a touchdown.

 

While quarterback Sharmal Booker struggled through the air (3-12 for 39 yards and a pick-six), he did score two rushing touchdowns as Mansfield converted well on the goal line.

 

Now Mansfield (2-3) turns its attention to District 3-2A play with Red River (1-4) coming to town Friday.

With usual district favor Many (0-5) appearing to have fallen on extremely hard times, the race to the top is wide open.

 

Mansfield, Red River, Lakeside and Winnfield all are capable of winning the title if Many can’t recapture anything resembling a program that’s won 39 straight district games.

 

While the loser of Friday’s game certainly isn’t out of the hunt, a win keeps the victor on the inside rail.

 

 

The jumbotron looked great, the new sound system boomed throughout, but the Tigers couldn’t deliver a win in the Week 5 home opener as Kinder came away with a 26-12 win.

 

Both of Jukadynn Carter’s touchdown runs handed Logansport a lead as the Tigers were ahead 12-8 midway through the third quarter.

 

But Kinder leaned on its larger roster size and had more juice in the fourth quarter.

 

Logansport (2-2) will start District 3-1A by making a trip to rival St. Mary’s (2-3) on Friday.

 

These two teams have basically played in defacto district title games for much of the past decade.

While this game is typically played in the last few weeks of the season, Friday’s winner will have an inside track to the title.

 

A veteran Montgomery squad could pose problems, but none of the other members look ready to contend.

 

Both St. Mary’s (64-40) and Logansport (46-7) have big wins over Many.

 

St. Mary’s is coming off a crushing 50-0 loss to a really good St. Frederick squad after stringing together wins against Holy Savior Menard and Many.

 

Outside of 64 points against Many, St. Mary’s has totaled just 36 points in its other four games.

 

Logansport’s defense has been pretty solid with the Tigers allowing 18 points per game.