Sam Houston claimed a big opening-week win on Friday, taking down defending non-select Division III state champion Many 47-10.

Sam Houston limited Many to 225 total yards and didn’t allow an offensive touchdown until the fourth quarter when the game was well in hand.

Junior quarterback Gavin Stout threw a trio of scoring strikes, including a pair of long balls of 43 and 75 yards to Cole Flanagan and Ayden Rose. Stout completed 5 of 13 passes for 196 yards, and sophomore quarterback Gavin Breaux scored three goal-line touchdowns (2, 1, 3 yards) to contribute to the rout.

At Sulphur, senior quarterback Addison Constance accounted for four touchdowns in his first start to lead the Tors to a 52-22 win over Washington-Marion. Constance (11 of 16, 158 yards) scored twice on the ground and threw touchdown passes of 38 and 29 yards to Jackson Beddoe and Brodie Depriest. Beddoe added a 76-yard kickoff return touchdown in the second quarter.

Barbe freshman Jelandon Gray was solid in his first start in the Bucs’ 35-8 win over LaGrange, completing 8 of 14 passes for 146 yards with a touchdown an interception, and junior running back Eric Jones scored five times and had 183 all-purpose yards.

Class 4A

DeRidder forced four turnovers to beat South Beauregard 24-7. Jatari Harris had an interception, a fumble recovery, broke up two passes and made four tackles

Leesville fell behind by 14 points in the first quarter at Jennings but rallied to win 32-14. Xavier Ford ran for two scores and 291 yards, while Izaiah Farley had 128 yards and two touchdowns. Corbitt Robbins threw a 35-yard pass to Jackson Bealer for the go-ahead score with less than 2 minutes left in the second quarter.

Class 3A

Kinder fell behind by 14 points early to longtime rival Welsh, but junior running back Logan Lebeouf had a career night with 227 yards on 26 carries and three touchdowns to lead the Yellow Jackets to a 46-28 win. Landon Langley’s 27-yard field goal in the second quarter gave Kinder its first lead, 19-16. Welsh’s Hayden VanNess ran for 191 yards on 23 carries.

St. Louis Catholic and Lake Charles College Prep’s defenses lived up to their billings as both posted shutouts. St. Louis beat Crowley 38-0 while LCCP took out Magnolia School of Excellence 75-0 and will have an important home game this week against Westgate.

St. Louis senior linebacker Graham Montet and Noah Ellender went berserk on the Gents. Montet made 13 tackles — two for loss — a fumble recovery and blocked two kicks, while Ellender had 10 tackles — 2 1/2 for loss — and recovered a fumble. Montet added a 6-yard touchdown on offense.

Another freshman quarterback enjoyed a breakout debut in Westlake’s Brody Anderson. He threw for 290 yards (12 for 18) and four touchdown passes in a 40-7 win over DeQuincy on Thursday.

Class 2A

Grand Lake survived its season opener with Hamilton Christian, winning 34-26 thanks to a 23-yard Kealan Bell scoring run in the fourth quarter. Ian Vigo ran for 208 yards on 22 carries and scored in the third quarter to tie the score at 26-26.

Hamilton quarterback Javon Vital almost led the Warriors to their first win since Sept. 4, 2021, with a hand in all four touchdowns, scoring on a 1-yard run plus touchdown passes to three receivers, Messiah Simien, Sammy Knight and Noah Menard. He completed 8 of 14 passes for 187 yards and an interception.

The backfield duo of quarterback Ray Levi and running back Kenyon Boese led Lake Arthur to a 34-32 road win over perennial 1A power Basile on Friday. Levi threw two touchdowns and added two on the ground with 100 rushing and 137 passing yards. Boese ran for 128 yards and caught three passes for 138 yards, including the winner (76 yards).

Class 1A

Jerimaya Robinson scored four touchdowns and Merryville rolled to a 38-6 win over North Central on Thursday in a win for a community that days before was under threat from the Tiger Island fire.

At Elton, junior running back Tristan Leblanc scored three times and ran for 148 yards to lead the Indians to a 46-6 home win.

Curt Ware got his first win as Oberlin’s head coach, beating Pine Prairie 47-24.