Over 34,000 people were in attendance to see two of NOLA’s most premier high school football programs compete for a state championship to cap off the 2025 LHSAA Prep Classic in Edna Karr and St. Augustine.
The Edna Karr Cougars have become a high school football dynasty winning their eighth overall state championship, but the sixth under Brice Brown and also their second straight undefeated title by defeating St. Augustine 49-14 to clinch their 27th consecutive win.
“Number one, I can’t say how proud I am of this team. These young men have been with me for four years and some of them five, coming from our feeder school Alice Hart right down the street and it is a bittersweet day because some of them I won’t see next semester because they will be at their new school. I am so proud of how they handled this adversity and how they have grown.”
Edna Karr HC Brice Brown
In what was one of the most hyped-up games in LHSAA Prep Classic history started off as a defensive battle with both teams being scoreless the first quarter. The Cougars were the first to breakthrough with a John Johnson touchdown run to give Edna Karr a 7-0 lead.
The Cougars leaned on that ground game and that stingy defense to a 21-0 halftime lead with Tre Garrison scoring a touchdown and Johnson connecting with Gregory Wilfred on a 13 yard score.
While Edna Karr was in control, St. Augustine kept playing hard. Chad Jones Jr. who is the son of former LSU great Chad Jones Sr. intercepted a Johnson pass and returned it back 90 yards to get the Purple Knights on the scoreboard at 21-7.
Edna Karr’s offense responded with the second rushing touchdown from Johnson to give the Cougars a three-touchdown cushion at 28-7.
Immediately after, Derrick Bennett returned the kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown to once again make it a two touchdown game at 28-14.
However, that was as close as it was going to get for the Purple Knights as the Cougars scored 21 unanswered points to make it 49-14. The first score was the end product of a 88 yard touchdown drive with Johnson going up and over the goal line on fourth down.
The next two scores were all about the Edna Karr defense, which forced six turnovers in all throughout the game including a 73 yard fumble return for a touchdown from Torrence Sanders and a 26 yard interception from Ian Gray that later set up another Johnson touchdown run.
After West Virginia signee QB John Johnson threw four interceptions in the Division I State Championship win against Alexandria last year, the senior Cougars quarterback had a much better outing completing 15 of 18 passes for 169 yards and one touchdown to go along with 11 carries for 27 yards and four more touchdowns on the ground.
Speaking of the ground, Johnson’s partner in crime: Washington State signee Tre Garrison earned the team’s Most Outstanding Player honors with 41 carries for 189 yards and one touchdown.
On the other side, St. Augustine made some history by making it to a state championship game for the first time ever since 1979 and the biggest reason why was the addition of head coach Robert Valdez, who only in his second year leading the program got them to this point.
“I’m proud of these guys and proud of the work that we put in to get to this point. We had some miscues and when you play the number one team in the state, you can’t have those mistakes. We had six turnovers and that can’t happen. It is still a testament to the work that we have put in to get to this point. We will lick our wounds and start back in January to get to this point again.”
St. Augustine HC Robert Valdez
The Edna Karr Cougars had 15 players that signed to play college football. Coach Brown’s mission has been to give his players a reason to stay off the streets. The Cougars have dedicated this season to Corey Adams, who was tragically shot and killed in July near Memphis, Tennessee after signing to play college football at Ole Miss.
After receiving the state championship trophy, LSU defensive tackle signee Richard Anderson made sure to give it to Corey Adams’ mother.
“This goal was to bring his mom the state championship trophy. Yeah, we have great players and that was one of the greatest Cougars we had. His passion, his drive for excellence, and to dedicate a whole season to him was heavy on our hearts the whole year. To finish it off against St. Aug in this venue, he wouldn’t have had it no other way.”
Edna Karr HC Brice Brown
For Brice Brown, winning a championship is great and all, but at the end of the day, he believes that this game is bigger than just the scoreboard. This game was about Edna Karr, St. Augustine, and the city of New Orleans.
“The biggest message we can give to St. Augustine and Edna Karr is that our black young me can do it a different way and we are trying to show these young men a different way of doing it. This is not just a win for Edna Karr but this is a win for St. Aug too. They should be proud. We should all be proud that we have a field in the Superdome full of black men and we are making this attractive for them to do something besides run to the street. For anyone out there listening, if you need a home at Karr, at St. Aug, that is the excellence we are talking about. With either one, you can’t go wrong. This is the standard. This is what we are trying to build, not men behind bars but men behind desks, men that own businesses, men that can do it the hard way and the tough way and not always looking for the easy way. That is why we are tough on these men because life is tough.”
Edna Karr HC Brice Brown
Check out the photos taken by Billy Metcalf!
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