By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL/Designated Writers

HAUGHTON – When Mandeville and Haughton – two double-digits seeds — teed it up in the Class 5A quarterfinals Friday night, someone’s magical season was going to continue.

One reached the quarterfinals by recording a safety in the final two minutes of the second round. The other advanced on a missed chip shot field goal.

It might have been destiny for these two teams to reach this level of the playoffs, but that took a back seat once this game kicked off. From the outset, Haughton took control of the game on the way to a 34-14 win over the Skippers.

By the time Mandeville picked up a first down, the Buccaneers already had three … touchdowns. Haughton scored with little trouble on its first three possessions with quarterback Peyton Stovall either throwing or running for all three.

But down 20-0, the Skippers got off the deck with a 9-play, 80-yard drive to get on the board on a 7-yard run by Devon Tott.

The Skippers might have had a chance to cut into the lead even before halftime, but a fourth-down run from their own 20 with 1:02 to go didn’t get the first down. One play later, Stovall found Elijah Rochon for a 20-yard score and just like that, it was 27-7. Momentum, gone.

Or so it appeared.

Even though his first roll of the dice hadn’t worked, Mandeville coach Hutch Gonzales wasn’t done. The Skippers opened the second half with a successful onside kick, but it didn’t result in any points.

“We had to take some chances,” Gonzales said. “We were in a 20-point hole to start the game and we needed a spark. That’s a good football team. They came out like that and it’s tough to recover.”

Haughton coach Jason Brotherton knew not to count the Skippers out, even after his team jumped out to such a quick start.

“They are a good, tough, hard-nosed team. We talked all week about how we had a lot of advantages athletically, but they were always in the right spot and they don’t give up a lot of big plays. That’s a testament to their staff. Of course, anybody who is playing this time of year is doing a good job.”

Mandeville had another break with an interception by Noah Engolia on the first play of the fourth quarter, but couldn’t make that one pay off either.

Haughton ended that drive with a 48-yard interception return for a touchdown by linebacker Dylan Turner to make it 34-14. “That guy can’t catch at all,” Brotherton said with a smile. “And then I thought there was no way he’d score, but he did.”

By falling behind so early, Mandeville was forced to all but abandon the running game. Tott threw 21 of his 28 passes in the second half.

“They did a phenomenal job taking our running game away from us,” Gonzales said. “We tried to stay with it, but they were taking it away so we had to try to do what we could.”

Leading rusher Jack Henderson had only 44 yards on 11 carries.

Stovall was 12 of 19 for 194 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Keyshawn Davis had 131 yards on 21 carries for a balanced Haughton offense.

Haughton (11-2) will advance to the semifinals for the first time since 1990 (Class 4A). The Bucs will travel to Destrahan, a 20-17 winner over West Monroe.

“We’ve had some injuries and some things happened, but we talked about being able to write out legacy when the playoffs started,” Brotherton said. “We say that we are in the game to get to the game and we are excited about that.”

Yep, just one more game to get the The Game.

YARDSTICK
                                              MND                            HAU
First Downs                             13                                15
Rushing Yards                        25-72                           32-186
Passing Yards                         173                              194
Passes (A-C-I)                        28-19-2                       19-12-1
Punt-Ave                                 3-37.0                          2-41.0
Fumbles-Lost                          0-0                               0-0
Penalties-Yards                       6-56                             7-62

SCORING SUMMARY
Mandeville      0          7          7          0          — 14
Haughton        14        13        0          7          — 34

H – C.J. McWilliams 11 pass from Peyton Stovall (Carter Jensen kick)
H – Stovall 27 run (Jensen kick)
H – Stovall 1 run (run failed)
M – Devon Tott 7 run (Caden Costa kick)
H – Elijah Rochon 20 pass from Stovall (Jensen kick)
M – Will Sheppard 4 pass from Tott (Costa kick)
H – Dylan Turner 48 interception return (Jensen kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Mandeville Rushing – Jack Henderson 11-44, Tott 7-12, Landon Ibieta 7-16.
Haughton Rushing – Keyshawn Davis 21-131, Stovall 6-28, C.J. McWilliams 4-24, 27 1-13
Mandeville Passing – Tott 28-19-2-173-1
Haughton Passing – Stovall 19-12-1-194-2
Mandeville Receiving – Sheppard 6-30-1TD, Ibieta 4-50, Caden Costa 5-53, Henderson 2-26, Dereje Gaspard 2-4.
Haughton Receiving – McWilliams 4-55-1, Tristan Sweeney 4-42, Matthew Whitten 2-55,  Rochon 2-42-1TD

By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL/Designated Writers

Since I only eat two things on Thanksgiving — turkey and sweet potatoes and please don’t ask any more questions — I have lots of idle time on my hands while everyone else in chowing down on all those things that I find disgusting (again, please don’t ask.) Such as:

COWBOYS: (See previous Daily Happen.) OK, tell me again why they are supposed to be so good? One of my favorite football quotes is from Bill Parcells, who famously said “You are what your record says you are.” The Cowboys are 6-6. That’s pretty much Definition: Average. Because their owner can’t shut up and the franchise is worth $4 billion and they are constantly moving the TV needle doesn’t mean they automatically get to be good. They lose to good teams; they beat bad teams. They constantly set themselves up to be disappointed and always follow through on that promise.

BLACK FRIDAY: If I had taken a drink every time I heard that term on Thursday, I couldn’t have turned the laptop on, much less typed my name. But like everything else that gets ruined by overuse, Black Friday isn’t Black Friday any more. Now it starts on Thursday, so you can beat the rush of those who are trying to beat the rush. I’ve also heard of Black Friday “going on all month,” so doesn’t that defeat the purpose? That makes about as much sense as Christmas in July sales events. I miss the good ol’ days when you stood in the freezing cold waiting until 6 a.m. so you could shove an old lady down when the doors opened in order to save $200 on a TV that will be on sale for even less the day after Christmas.

SAINTS: Two words: Taysom Hill. This guy might be the best story in the NFL, but he is certainly the best story that no one really talks about. There are lots of reasons to think Sean Peyton is a great coach, but the way he has made Hill a weapon or New Orleans might be the best reason of all. The Atlanta Falcons got a first-hand lesson Thursday.