Photo by RomaPics for the LHSAA.
The Edna Karr High School football team was selected as the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Greater New Orleans Boys’ Prep Team of the Year for 2018-19. The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, selects annual award winners in a variety of categories; it also selects Amateur Athletes of the Month and each year’s Hall of Fame class.
Karr recorded its third straight state championship by coming from behind to defeat Warren Easton, 28-20, to capture the 2018 Allstate Sugar Bowl/LHSAA Class 4A state title. After trailing 12-0 in the first quarter, the Cougars came to life with two second-quarter touchdowns. A 31-yard fourth-quarter TD connection between quarterback Leonard Kelly and Jahii Howard clinched the victory to cap a perfect 15-0 season.
“We talk about humility,” Karr coach Brice Brown told Nola.com. “You have to win with humility and you better be humble. God has blessed us tremendously to be in this position. If you played good or you played bad, you’ve got to remember that these chances and these opportunities don’t come around for everybody, so you have to sit back and appreciate the moment that you’re in.”
The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee began in 1957 when James Collins spearheaded a group of sports journalists to form a sports awards committee to immortalize local sports history. For 13 years, the committee honored local athletes each month. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the creation of the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1971, honoring 10 legends from the Crescent City in its first induction class. While adding the responsibility of selecting Hall of Famers, the committee has continued to recognize the top amateur athlete in the Greater New Orleans area each month – the honors enter their 64th year in 2020. To be eligible, an athlete must be a native of the greater New Orleans area or must compete for a team in the metropolitan region.
The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 28 national champions, 96 Hall of Fame players, 50 Hall of Fame coaches and 18 Heisman Trophy winners in its 86-year history. The 87th Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will double as a College Football Playoff Semifinal, is scheduled to be played on January 1, 2021. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1.6 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors over 100,000 student-athletes each year, while injecting over $2.7 billion into the local economy in the last decade.
-www.AllstateSugarBowl.org-
