SULPHUR — Iowa’s defense came up with big plays in the fourth quarter to clinch the District 3-3A championship with a 29-21 win over St. Louis Catholic Thursday at Matt Walker Memorial Stadium.

With never more than a one-possession lead in the quarter, the Yellow Jackets (8-1, 6-0) forced three turnovers in the final 12 minutes. It started with a fumble after the Saints had converted on third down with 8:47 left. That turned into a 36-yard touchdown run by Ronald Young for a 29-21 lead with 4:29 left.

In the final 3 minutes, the Yellow Jackets’ Hayden Lebleu Joe Natali made interceptions to stop the Saints (7-2, 4-1) from engineering a comeback.

Iowa controlled the ground on both sides of the ball. They held the Saints to 24 rushing yards on 18 carries, while Young ran for 188 yards and three scores on 28 carries.

Young scored twice out of the wildcat formation in the first half and picked up 92 yards on 11 carries as the offensive line opened gaping holes for him. He capped a 6-minute drive with 7 seconds left in the first quarter with an 18-yard run, breaking two tackles before diving into the end zone. Iowa went 65 yards on its second drive and consumed more than 7 minutes off the clock to go up 15-7 on a 6-yard run and 2-point conversion run by Young.

Struggling to move the ball on the ground, the Saints went to the air to engineer a 2-minute drive just before halftime to cut the gap to 15-14. Trey Tate opened the drive with a 20-yard catch and Andrew Svarney made a 33-yard grab on third down. James Reina found Grant Evans in traffic for a 12-yard touchdown with 43 seconds left in the first half.

Reina completed 13 of 20 passes for 256 yards and a touchdown but was sacked three times. Connor Roy had a sack and two tackles for loss for the Yellow Jackets.

Evans caught five passes for 86 yards, and Tate added four catches for 120 yards.