Jeanerette senior defensive back Devone Duhon turned away Westminster Christian Lafayette on fourth down in the red zone with under a minute left to seal the Tigers' 26-19 win and create a three-way tie atop the District 7-1A standings on Friday.

His brother, senior running back Devine Duhon, caught a 44-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Aaron Tillman for the first score of the game at Jeanerette (7-1, 4-1).

"It feels wonderful," Tigers coach CC Paul said. "It's the first time in school history that we've been part of a district championship. I want to thank my seniors, man. I take my hat off to them."

Like WCA-Lafayette (8-1, 5-1), Jeanerette specializes in running the football, but the Tigers were effective with throwing short passes that turned into long gains. Junior QB Aaron Tillman completed 6 of 12 passes for 149 yards, and he also ran for 57 yards on nine carries with a 30-yard TD.

"Our plan was to get the ball to our athletes," Paul said. "We figured if we could get the ball in their hands, our speed and ability would get the job done."

Tillman connected on 4 of his first 5 throws for 97 yards. Senior Kobe Gage caught a 42-yard pass and ran for a 12-yard TD, while Nysir Jackson had a 46-yard reception. Gage and Jackson each picked off WCA-Lafayette QB Zade Prejean, who hadn't thrown an interception.

"Our offense is coming into its own at the right time," Paul said. "We started out the school year trying to feel out our personnel. This week right here is the week we figured out who is going to make plays for us."

In the fourth quarter, defensive back Christopher Archangel stripped a Charger receiver at the one-yard line to create a turnover on a play that denied the visitors of a touchdown. An interception and return by Jackson set up Tillman's TD run in the last minute of the first half that gave the Tigers a 12-7 halftime lead.

"I tell you what, Westminster is a hell of a team," Paul said. "It took us longer to game-plan to defend them than any other team because they have a great offensive line, and their quarterback and running backs are excellent athletes."

The Chargers, who had rushed for 50 TDs entering the game, got two scoring runs from Ethan Simon (18 carries, 70 yards) and one late in the fourth quarter by Pierce Gable (28-109). Prejean, who was averaging over 17 yards per carry, finished with 34 yards on 10 carries after rushing for negative yardage in the first half.

"We played well," WCA-Lafayette coach Kent Gable said. "We were down by two scores multiple times and had a chance to tie it up or take the lead. They're a good football team. They made some good plays, and we didn't execute quite well enough, but overall I'm proud of our fight."

Sophomore Destin Smith, who ran for over 1,00 yards last year with Duhon sidelined by injury, scored on a 64-yard run around the right side for a 26-13 Jeanerette lead with 1:55 left in the third quarter.

Prejean, who had only thrown 28 passes all season, finished 5 of 9 through the air for 89 yards. He connected on three passes on the Chargers' final drive that came up just short.

"I think we proved we're a championship caliber team, and that we can play with anybody," Gable said. "We just have to get back to work. We still got a share of the district title.

"I told our boys to be proud of it and have a big (non-district) game next week against Ascension Catholic (7-1, No. 2 in Division IV select entering this week's slate of games)."