East Ascension’s Jeremyah Merriweather burst downfield on the game’s third play against Dutchtown. Zaylen Smith scanned the field, then found his receiver over the top of the defense for a 71-yard touchdown.

The early touchdown was just the beginning of a dominant first half.

East Ascension (8-2) scored all of its points in the first half in a 43-7 win over Dutchtown to win the District 5-5A title. Thursday’s victory at Dutchtown marked the first time in four years there was an outright District 5-5A champion.

“I told them before the game,” Spartans coach Brock Matherne said, "if we lose this game, there’s no share of a district title. We either win it or we don’t. They wanted to win it.”

Merriweather hauled in five passes for 172 yards and two touchdowns. He also had one rushing touchdown. Smith finished with 272 yards passing and three touchdowns after completing 11-of-14 attempts. He added a rushing touchdown.

“We went over that in practice all week, and we knew that they play double safeties, so the middle’s going to be wide open,” Merriweather said of his opening score. “When I caught it, I looked back; I looked both sides, nobody was there. All I saw was white jerseys in the end zone. It had to be something good.”

After the early touchdown, East Ascension stole a possession after recovering an onside kick. Merriweather took a handoff on the next play 38 yards to the end zone.

Dutchtown (7-3) fumbled the ensuing kickoff, giving East Ascension the ball again at the Griffins 41. Smith found Makaylin Alston for a 29-yard gain to the 3-yard line. Two plays later, a holding call put the Spartans back at the 11. Smith then rolled out and threaded the needle to Mason Coto for an 11-yard touchdown pass.

The Spartans had a 21-0 lead just three minutes into the game.

Dutchtown crossed midfield on its first possession, but the Spartans defense broke up a pass to get the ball back.

Late in the first quarter, East Ascension took over after a punt. On the next play, Merriweather weaved through defenders on a screen and broke off a 75-yard touchdown.

After another punt, the Spartans stretched their lead after a Smith 1-yard touchdown run capped a seven-play, 54-yard drive early in the second quarter to make it 36-0.

Dutchtown drove down to East Ascension’s 6-yard line, but faced a fourth down. A host of Spartans swarmed Hayden Becnel for a 2-yard loss to protect the shutout.

Late in the first half, Levy picked off a Brock Black pass near midfield. He followed a convoy of blockers 42 yards into the end zone for a pick-six to make it 43-0 at halftime.

Black found Becnel on a screen for a 20-yard touchdown early in the third for Dutchtown’s lone touchdown of the game. Neither side scored after as East Ascension completed a dominant win.

“We came out worried about tomorrow’s not promised,” Matherne said. “If today was our last day, how do we want to leave a legacy? We wanted to leave it as champions. This group did that.”