NEW ORLEANS (April 1, 2025) – Drew Timmons, who was recently selected as Louisiana's Gatorade Basketball Player of the Year, has been selected as the Allstate Sugar Bowl Athlete of the Month for March. Athletes of the month have been selected by the New Orleans Sports Awards Committee since 1957. The athlete must be a native of the greater New Orleans area or must compete for a team in the metropolitan region to be eligible.
 
Timmons led Archbishop Hannan High School to its second state title in four years as he averaged 18.0 points over four March playoff games. The second-seeded Hawks won a defensive slugfest over top-seeded Shaw, 59-55, to earn the LHSAA Division II select championship. The 6-6 Timmons was the Most Outstanding Player of the Championship after scoring 22 points on 10-of-16 shooting. A Navy signee, Timmons scored the final two baskets for Hannan, including a three-point play with 54.4 seconds remaining that made the score 56-50. He recorded eight points with 11 rebounds in an even more intense defensive battle in the semifinals as the Hawks defeated No. 3 Peabody, 31-29. After two years of quarterfinals defeats, Hannan advanced to the state semifinals with a 59-52 victory over No. 10 Vandebilt Catholic as Timmons finished with 25 points, 12 rebounds and three assists on March 7.
 
"It feels amazing," Timmons said after the quarterfinal victory. "I've been wanting to get back [to the semifinals] ever since we went [in 2022], so now, we're finally going back. We've been working for the last two years to get past the quarters. To see that our work has finally paid off is a good feeling."
 
The 6-foot-6, 215-pound senior forward led the Hawks to a 26-7 record as he averaged 21.4 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.6 steals per game. A three-time First Team All-State selection, he concluded his prep basketball career with 2,910 points and 1,491 rebounds. Timmons was a freshman on Hannan's last state title team in 2022.
 
Timmons won the honor over four other standout area athletes.

• Albert Edwards III, an 11-year old speedster with the New Orleans Metro Stars Track & Field club, had a memorable performance at the AAU National Indoor Championships held March 7-9 at the Virginia Beach Sports Center. He won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:27.13, placed second in the long jump with a distance of 16 feet and 1/2 inch, and earned a bronze medal in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:01.37. His 800-meter time was just 15 seconds off a top-10 time at the Louisiana Division II High School Indoor Championships. Edwards is a fifth grader at St. Pius X.
• Brandon Kragle, a freshman pitcher at Delgado from St. Charles Catholic High School, made three March appearances, posting a 1.32 ERA and allowing just five hits and two runs over 13.2 innings while striking out 12. He closed the month with a five-inning perfect game, retiring all 15 batters he faced with six strikeouts in the 11-0 victory over Southwest Mississippi on March 27. He also earned a victory on March 14 in a win over Moraine Valley in the Dolphins' annual Disney Spring Training Invitational. For the season, Kragle has five appearances with a 3-0 record, a 0.83 ERA, and a 0.78 WHIP. In 21.2 innings, he has allowed just eight hits and two runs while striking out 18 batters. Dolphin opponents have managed just a .114 batting average against the 5-11 southpaw.
• Terence Petit, a freshman tumbler for the Xavier University of Louisiana competitive cheer team, helped Xavier's 20-member squad finish second at the 2025 Nfinity NAIA National Championship March 28-29 in Ypsilanti, Mich. It was the second straight year that Xavier's co-ed team, the Gold, finished second at nationals. On the second day of the competition, Xavier's score of 99.00 – there were no deductions – was the highest ever single-round score at this meet. "This is Terence's first year of competitive cheer," said Xavier head coach Glenn Caston of the 2024 Bonnabel High School graduate. "He was a gymnast in high school. He quickly became one of the top leaders of our team. He will be a captain very soon. He's also strong in the classroom and one of our GPA leaders."
• Jaron Pierre Jr., a 2020 graduate of St Augustine High School now playing at Jacksonville State, was named the Conference USA Men's Basketball Player of the Year on March 10. In seven March games, he averaged 20.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.7 assists as Jax State went 4-3. He keyed the Gamecocks' run to the CUSA Championship game with a pair of 19-point performances in wins over FIU and Middle Tennessee. Jax State earned a bid to the NIT and was sent on the road to Georgia Tech where Pierre registered his sixth 30-point game of the season as the Gamecocks earned just their second ever win over a power conference opponent. The redshirt senior, who was also named first-team all-conference, averaged 21.8 points per game, fourth in NCAA Division I – his 777 total points for the season is No. 1 in the country.

The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 28 national champions, 107 Hall of Fame players, 52 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 91-year history. The 92nd Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will double as a College Football Playoff Quarterfinal, is scheduled to be played on January 1, 2026. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards, scholarships and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting over $2.5 billion into the local economy in the last decade.