By Jim Majors

The Luverne Tigers (10-1) shutdown the Leroy Bears (6-5) Friday night in the first round of the 2A state playoffs, winning 42-6.

Luverne’s Antavious Brown intercepted a pass midway through the opening quarter, and ran it 7 yards for the first touchdown with 5 minutes left in the first quarter, putting the Tigers up 6-0.

After Leroy turned the ball over on downs the Tigers’ Jonathan Chambers ran the ball in for the next TD.

The Womack brothers teamed up for the 2-point conversion with Kenterius hitting Kevin for a the two-pointer, putting the Tigers up 14-0, with 2:19 left in the first.

As the defense for both teams battled it out QB Kenterius Womack kept the ball and put the next points on the board, to give the Tigers a 20-0 lead with 3:34 left in the second quarter.

Luverne got the ball back on downs, and Womack’s 22-yard pass to Marcel McMillian was good for another Luverne touchdown. The two-point conversion was successful by Chambers with 17 seconds left in the half, and the Tigers went to the lockerroom leading 28-Luverne received the ball to start the second half and Womack threw a 56-yard pass to Uriah Brown for the next score and with a missed PAT, making the score 34-0 with 11:39 left in the third.

Both teams had an exchange of downs when Womack hit Chambers for the TD.

The quarterback-keeper was good for the two-point conversion, with 4:26 left in the third, with Luverne up 42-0.

Late in the fourth quarter, Marvin Davidson scored for the Leroy Bears, making the final score, 42-6

Leroy head coach Jason Massey said the better team won.

“We were out-matched,” he said. “Coach DuBose and his staff are good coaches and class. They gave a great team effort.”

Luverne head coach Mike DuBose said Leroy played hard.

“They were tough,” he said. “I am proud of the way we played in the second half. We were more focused. It was a fight to the end.”

Luverne will play host to Oakman next Friday night at 7.