By Pat Culverhouse
Minden’s Crimson Tide took a comfortable lead into the fourth quarter, then exploded for 27 points in the final 12 minutes to roll past Woodlawn 51-6 in Friday’s District 1-4A opener for both teams.
Minden’s fourth quarter romp began with Kaiden Shine’s 32-yard run on the first play after the Tide recovered a Knights’ fumble with 11:03 remaining in the game. Less than a minute later, Javen Calloway returned an interception 45 yards for a score and a 37-6 Minden lead.
Other fourth quarter scores came on Jardon Carey’s 14-yard run with 7:44 remaining, followed by an Ian Clark 16-yard scamper to finish the Tide’s scoring.
Minden jumped off to a quick 7-0 lead with Hudson Brown found Caylien Aubrey with a 10-yard TD pass to cap a four minute drive with the opening kickoff. Braxton Glover kicked his first of six PATs with 7:42 left in the first quarter.
Woodlawn answered with its only score of the evening on a six-yard scoring run by Alvis Gilbert at the 10:06 mark of the second quarter, but a failed two-point try left the Knights trailing 7-6.
From there it was all Minden. Shine scored the first of his two touchdowns of the game on a twisting 23-yard run to cap an eight-play, 68-yard scoring drive with 6:12 left before half to put the Tide up 14-6. With just five seconds remaining in the half, Glover nailed a 29-yard field goal for a Tide 17-6 lead.
Aubrey picked up his second touchdown of the evening with 7:20 left in the third quarter when he powered into the end zone from five yards out to end a five-play drive covering 49 yards. That drive began when the Tide defense held Woodlawn on a fourth down try.
Minden put on a power running display in the win, picking up 301 total yards on the ground. Shine led Tide rushers with 101 yards on just eight carries and two Cds, followed by Aubrey who had 11 rushes for 90 yards and two scores.
Adding to the Tide totals were Lucas Owens, Jr. with 59 yards on 10 carries, Ian Clark with 21 yards on two attempts and one touchdown and Jardon Carey with one run for 14 yards and one TD.
Woodlawn’s Kameron Jenkins led all rushers in the game, picking up 105 yards in 15 attempts. Alvis Golbert carried 19 times for a total of 71 yards.
Brown and sophomore quarterback Jaden Johnson combined for 36 yards passing on four completions in 11 attempts. Receivers for the Tide were Aubrey with two catches for 23 yards and Shine with 13 yards on two catches.
Friday’s win evened the Tide’s record at 2-2 for the season and 1-0 in District 1-4A play. Woodlawn dropped to 2-2 on the year, 0-1 in district play.
Minden will travel to Shreveport to take on Loyola Friday in another 1-4A contest against the unbeaten, high scoring Flyers (4-0). After a 56-0 drubbing of Southwood last Thursday, Loyola has outscored its first four opponents 222-46.