The Edna Karr football team was selected as the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Greater New Orleans Boys’ Prep Team of the Year for 2016-17. 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.
Edna Karr capped a tremendous season by defeating Neville High School, 34-21, in the Allstate Sugar Bowl/LHSAA Class 4A state championship game. The victory not only capped a perfect 15-0 season for the Cougars, but it also avenged last season’s loss to Neville in the state title game. Karr trailed 21-20 at the half, but a dominant defense kept powerhouse Neville off the scoreboard in the second half. A Devin Bush interception early in the second half set up the go-ahead touchdown on a Ronnie Jackson seven-yard run. Jackson added another short TD run late in the game while quarterback Aldon Clark (the game’s Most Outstanding Player) threw three first-half touchdowns, including a pair of connections with Rayce McMath.
“We’ve been preparing for this moment since January,” Clark said. “We just had to leave it all on the field and we couldn’t come off this field today saying ‘Shoulda, woulda, coulda.’ I’m really proud of my guys.”
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, 102 Hall of Fame players, 52 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 89-year history. The 90th Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will double as a College Football Playoff Semifinal, is scheduled to be played on January 1, 2024. 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 nearly $2.4 billion into the local economy in the last decade.
-www.AllstateSugarBowl.org-
