Edna Karr opened District 9-5A play with a touchdown on the game's first play and a defense that kept Holy Cross off the scoreboard, moving the two-time defending Division I Select champions to 4-0.
By Kim M. Braud | September 24, 2026
NEW ORLEANS - Edna Karr opened its district football schedule Thursday night with a play that handed Holy Cross an immediate problem. Ky'mani Henry returned the opening kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown, putting the Cougars ahead seconds into the game at Morris F.X. Jeff, Sr. Park and setting the tone for a 31-0 victory.
The long touchdown supplied the night's first jolt. Karr's defense supplied the rest.
Holy Cross arrived with a defensive reputation of its own. Six days earlier the Tigers won 10-7 in overtime at St. Charles Catholic, the defending Division II Select champion, on a 20-yard field goal by Drew Aguirre after forcing a fumble on the Comets' overtime possession. St. Charles gained 163 total yards in that game.
Against Karr, the Tigers did not score at all.
It was the Cougars' second shutout in four games. The first came Sept. 11, a 50-0 win at Huntington in Shreveport.
A different game than Ruston
Thursday's game looked little like Karr's previous outing. On Sept. 19 at the Caesars Superdome, the Cougars beat Ruston 21-14 in the second InspireNola Invitational, a game held to honor the late sportscaster Ed Daniels. Senior running back Jermond Macklin scored all three Karr touchdowns.
That game was tight to the end. Karr led 14-0 in the first quarter before Ruston running back Dalen Powell scored twice, including a 71-yard run, to tie it before halftime. The score held at 14-14 until Macklin's 2-yard run put Karr ahead, and a last-second Ruston pass into the end zone fell incomplete.
Against Holy Cross, the Cougars took the lead on the game's first play and never gave it back.
Where Karr stands
The win moved Karr to 4-0, following victories over Lafayette Renaissance Charter Academy, Huntington and Ruston. The Cougars are the two-time defending Division I Select state champions, and Thursday's result extended a winning streak that dates to 2023 to 31 games.
Holy Cross fell to 2-2.
What comes next
Karr’s district schedule does not ease. The Cougars visit Brother Martin on Friday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m., then travel to John Curtis Christian on Oct. 9 before hosting Archbishop Rummel on Oct. 16. Both later games are also scheduled for 7 p.m.
Kim M. Braud is the Founder & Editor of Evans Cutchmore Press, an independent newsroom covering Louisiana and the Gulf South. Her reporting focuses on government accountability, infrastructure, business, culture, and the public policies that shape communities.
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