Leesville running back Xavier Ford put up video game-like numbers to cap his record-breaking career, while Iowa safety Cohen Charles left his mark everywhere for the Yellow Jackets.

Both helped lead their respective teams to the semifinals this season and are the American Press All-Southwest Louisiana Big Schools MVPs.

Iowa’s Tommy Johns is the Big Schools Coach of the Year for the third consecutive season after leading the Yellow Jackets to the semifinals for the second time in program history. Iowa set a school record for wins (12) and consecutive wins (11). Moving up to Class 4A didn’t slow them down as they made a third consecutive perfect run through district play, this time in 3-4A.

Offensive MVP

Xavier Ford

Early in his time at Leesville, Ford set goals for himself to push himself to great success. In his final season, he broke the state single-season rushing

yards and touchdowns record and several school records.

“He talked about setting goals for himself and it started with his first year,” Leesville head coach Robert Causey said. “When he was a sophomore, he and his dad talked about setting goals and shooting for it.

“You are not going to get it unless you aim for it. He never lived in the realm of ‘woe is me.’ A bad play, he always used it to make himself better over a four-year period.”

Ford ended the season with 3,461 yards on 331 carries with 52 touchdowns, breaking Oberlin’s Cedric Skinner’s single-season rushing record of 3,437 set in 2010. He broke four school records formerly held by Cecil Collins. Ford finished his career with 8,591 rushing yards, 118 touchdowns to Collins’ 7,834 yards and 93 touchdowns. He also eclipsed Collins’ single-season marks of 3,045 yards and 40 touchdowns.

“His impact goes far beyond the numbers that he put up,” Causey said. “It starts with his character, his work ethic and the standard that he sets for himself and the expectation he had for himself and teammates. It translated onto the field.

“I think the year that he had is a by-product of all of that.”

Causey said Ford impacted his teammates, as well, putting up his enormous numbers while alongside a strong passing game.

“It is also the way he elevated everybody around him,” Causey said “We have a 2,000-yard passer. We had five receivers that had 10 or more catches through the season and he still put up astronomical numbers. He was always one step away from breaking a run to either keep us in the game, close the game in a game or pull away in a game”

Defensive MVP

Cohen Charles

There was hardly a facet of the Yellow Jacket’ season that wasn’t impacted by Charles.

He started in the secondary where he earned District 3-4A co-defensive MVP honors, became a key part of the Yellow Jackets’ ground game and a threat on special teams.

“That is the kind of impact that players like him are supposed to have,” Iowa head coach Tommy Johns said. “We are definitely going to miss him and his impact, playing both ways and especially special teams.”

Charles recorded 109 solo tackles and 50 assists and was a threat to opponents’ rushing and passing games. He broke up 16 passes and intercepted four, while recording 13 tackles behind the line of scrimmage and forcing four fumbles. He scored 21 total touchdowns, 17 rushing, three on punt returns and a reception.

“He is such a competitor,” Johns said. “Even in practice, everything he does is full speed, 90 miles per hour.

“When he carries the ball, it is just a little bit different. He smokes it up in there and brings a different style when we have him in at running back. It is hard to do. You are taking 60 snaps on defense and turning around and taking 17 to 18 carries is hard. And he is taking other snaps on offense where he might have to block or pass protect. And he plays special teams.”

On offense, he ran for 795 yards on 82 carries and his biggest game was the Yellow Jackets come-from-behind win over Franklin Parish in the quarterfinals when he ran for 210 yards and four touchdowns with10 tackles, two TFLs and two broken-up passes.

“It was early fourth quarter and he looked at me and he said give me the ball,” Johns said. “I asked him if he was good because I can’t have you go down with a cramp with two minutes to go. He said I am good, I want that ball.”

Offense

Pos. Player, School Cl. Ht. Wt. Statistics

WR Jeremiah Bushnell, Iowa Jr. 6-1 175 60 rec., 1,094 yards, 13 TD

WR Kevin Rideau, Westlake Sr. 6-2 180 46 rec., 811 yards, 12 TD

WR Uriah Wade, DeRidder Sr. 5-9 170 40 rec., 1,014 yards, 11 TD

OL Albert Simien, Sam Houston So. 6-4 280 Offense averaged 400-plus ypg

OL Jude Guillory, Iowa Sr. 6-0 240 Iowa averaged 41.6 ppg

OL Roy Stewart, LaGrange Sr. 6-2 240 Blocked for 1,000-yard passer

OL D’sel Palfrey, Jennings Sr. 5-11 190 Team averaged 266.5 rypg

OL Jeremiah Freeman, LCCP Sr. 6-4 310 LCCP averaged 35.8 ppg

QB Brody Anderson, Westlake So. 6-2 180 143-247-8, 2,161 yards, 24 TD

RB Xavier Ford, Leesville Sr. 5-10 215 330 car., 3,467 yards, 52 TD

RB Drew Bailey, Sam Houston Sr. 5-9 185 227 car., 1,753 yards, 24 TD

RB ReJohn Zeno, Jennings Sr. 5-10 195 186 car., 1,441 yards, 21 TD

K Zachry Sugandi-Pruitt, St. Louis Sr. 5-8 180 10-10 PAT, 11-13 FG, 59 long

ATH Christian Wold, S. Beau Sr. 6-0 195 1,243 rush, 1,401 pass, 30 total TD

Defense

Pos. Player, School Cl. Ht. Wt. Statistics

DL D’Andre Herron, Leesville Sr. 5-10 215 54 tackles, 3 sacks, 11 TFL

DL Davien Edwards, Jennings Sr. 5-9 220 62 tackles, 17 TFL, 10 sacks

DL Andrew Duhon, Iowa Sr. 6-3 200 96 tackles, 14 TFL, 11 sacks

DL Courtland Houston, Barbe Sr. 6-3 305 50 tackles, 8 TFL, 8 hurries

LB Brenden Malveaux, LCCP Jr. 6-1 210 100 tackles, 15 TFL, 3 sack

LB Jacob Pajinag, Leesville Jr. 6-1 215 84 tackles, 6 TFL

LB Keaton Sonnier, Sam Houston Sr. 6-0 210 135 tackles, 11 TFL, 2 FF, 2 FR

LB Dylan Rhodes, DeRidder Sr. 5-11 190 137 tackles, 7 TFL, 5 sacks

DB Cohen Charles, Iowa Sr. 5-11 175 159 tackles, 16 PBU, 4 INT

DB Dre Bernard, W-M Jr. 5-9 165 54 tackes, sack, 3 FF, 12 PBU

DB Braylon White, LCCP Sr. 5-10 170 65 tackles, 3 INT, 7 PBU

DB Humphrey Ned, Jennings Jr. 5-9 180 106 tackles, 22 TFL, 2 INT, 4 PBU

P Conner Rushford, Deridder Sr. 5-7 165 26 p, 42.2 avg, 13 inside 20

KR Alijah Pete, LCCP Sr. 6-0 175 20 total TD / 1,634 all-purpose yds.

ATH Jonathan Wakler Jr., Iowa Sr. 5-9 175 5 PBU, 2 INT / 1,600 all-purpose yds.

OFFENSIVE MVP — Xavier Ford, Leesville.

DEFENSIVE MVP — Cohen Charles, Iowa.

COACH OF THE YEAR — Tommy Johns, Iowa.