Xavier Ford ran rampant in the second quarter to give Leesville control of its District 3-4A opener, a 41-18 win over Washington-Marion Thursday night at Robert Lavergne Memorial Stadium.

Ford, Southwest Louisiana’s leading rusher, ran wild in the quarter on his way to a five-touchdown, 380-yard night on 32 carries, gaining 138 yards on 16 carries and scoring on all three Wampus Cats (5-1, 1-0) possessions.

Ford has eclipsed 100 yards rushing and scored at least one touchdown in all six Leesville games.

He opened the scoring with a 2-yard run to cap a 54-yard drive. After the Leesville defense forced a turnover on downs at its 35-yard line, Ford gained all but 6 yards on the ensuing touchdown drive, scoring up the middle on a 30-yard burst.

The Wampus Cats again stopped W-M on a fourth-down play with 2:41 left in the half. Eight plays — seven of them Ford runs — later, Ford completed the hat trick with a 1-yard run to put Leesville ahead 21-0.

W-M (0-5, 0-1) threatened to score in the final seconds after quarterback DeKhory Flagg completed a 72- yard pass to Elijah Netty, but the Charging Indians couldn’t punch it in for a score on the final two plays of the half.

Ford continued to pile up yardage in the third quarter, scoring on a 47-yard run to extend the lead to 28-0 midway through the quarter.

After a long W-M drive ended with another failed fourth-down attempt, this time at the Leesville 13, Ford ripped off an 86-yard touchdown run with 20 seconds left in the quarter, increasing his rushing total to 365 yards.

W-M got on the board early in the fourth on a 3-yard keeper by Flagg, who scored again in the quarter on a 1-yard run.

Hunter Cummings scored on a 6-yard run for the Wampus Cats.

Flagg led W-M with 249 passing yards and 106 rushing yards. Netty caught eight passes for 159 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown from Flagg in the last minute of the game,

Leesville finished with 460 rushing yards .

The Wampus Cats will host rival DeRidder in the annual Hooper Trophy game next Friday.