The Edna Karr football team, which was dominant in winning the LHSAA Division I Select State Championship, was selected as the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Outstanding Boys Prep Team for 2024-25. The New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, selects annual award winners in a variety of categories; it also selects Sugar Bowl Athletes of the Month and each year’s New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame class.
Edna Karr wrapped up an undefeated season with a dominating performance in the LHSAA Division I Select Playoffs as they won their four games by a combined score of 172-47. The state championship victory over second-seeded Alexandria, who also came in undefeated, was the most impressive of all as Karr jumped to a lightning fast 14-0 advantage and continued to roll – the final 10:42 of the game was played with running time as mandated by LHSAA rules when one team gains a 42-point advantage.
Quarterback John Johnson was exceptional in the victory as he accounted for 358 of his team’s 512 yards and five of the offense’s six touchdowns with his running and passing.
Alexandria, the undefeated District 2-5A champions, coming from a league that featured reigning Division I non-select state champion Ruston and highly regarded Neville, managed only 194 yards of offense and 13 first downs compared to Karr’s totals of 24 firsts and 512 yards.
“The team motto this year was ‘reclaim,’’’ head coach Brice Brown said. “What are we trying to reclaim? We are trying to reclaim a sense of our identity, not just reclaim a state championship. Reclaim the sense that we are the best team in the state of Louisiana. Reclaim that we are the best high school in the state of Louisiana. We have the best character. We have the best students. We have the best teachers. We have the best principal. We have the best trainers. That’s what we’re trying to reclaim. Because when you are charged with leading a program with such a great magnitude as Edna Karr, the expectation is real. The expectation is to win. But how do you do it, though? That matters. It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it."
The other finalists for the New Orleans’ Outstanding Boys Prep Team honor were were Archbishop Hannan Basketball, Archbishop Shaw Football, and St. Augustine Basketball. Hannan won its second state title in four years as the second-seeded Hawks and star forward Drew Timmons (22 points on 10-of-16 shooting) won a defensive slugfest over top-seeded Shaw, 59-55, to earn the LHSAA Division II select championship. Shaw earned its first state championship since 1987 (and just its second overall) as the top-seeded Eagles scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to defeat E.D. White, 28-25, for the LHSAA Division II Select championship. The fourth-seeded Purple Knights, made up primarily of junior varsity players from the 2023-24 season, kept No. 3 St. Thomas More from scoring in the third quarter and widened the lead in the fourth on the way to a 45-35 victory in the LHSAA Division I select state final.
The New Orleans Sports Awards Committee came together 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 and a variety of annual award winners. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the creation of the 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 athlete in the Greater New Orleans area each month as well as a range of annual awards – the honors enter their 69th year in 2025.
The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 29 national champions, 110 Hall of Fame players, 55 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.
-www.AllstateSugarBowl.org-
