When the season started the hope among the girls and boys squad at Quitman High School was to bring home a prestigious trophy in 2024. This past Friday both teams did just that and they didn’t even have to wait till March to get it done. 

While the ultimate goal is to still bring home the Division IV state championship hardware, capturing the Downs Law Firm “Game of the Week” trophy is quite a coup. The mega trophy features a large golden replica of Louisiana on the top and the winners each week during the season, which now includes Quitman High School.

QHS will now sport both the girls and boys “Game of the Week” trophy after the Lady Wolverines beat the home standing Lady Chiefs 43-41 and the boys won 74-62 over their Class 5A opponent.

With all the matchups in northeast Louisiana available for the choosing, organizers must have had a crystal ball to pick the contest between QHS and West Ouachita as the game of the week. The girls game had a fantastic finish and near miracle rally while the “small school” boys put on an incredible shooting performance to tally their second highest point total of the year. 

Adding to the excitement of the week was that the games were broadcast on not one but two radio stations with 105.7 FM and 540 AM carrying the game live. This was made possible in part by local sponsors Jackson Parish Journal, Forest Haven Nursing Home, Dodson Enterprise, People’s Bank and Culpepper Professional Investigations. 

Quitman 43 West Ouachita 41 (girls): For most of three quarters it looked like the “Game of the Week” should have been named the “Blowout of the Year”. Late in the third quarter Quitman was holding a commanding 32-8 lead. Then the Class 5A team who couldn’t buy a basket, suddenly couldn’t miss. 

“They got hot,” laughed QHS head coach Kyle Leach. 

Talk about an understatement. West Ouachita hit their final two shots of the third quarter and their first ten shots in the fourth to come to within 43-41 and with a last possession to tie or win. Thanks to a Cali Deal block in the paint as time was running out, Quitman held on for the victory. 

“They definitely has the momentum at the end,” continued Leach. ” I am just glad we had a big enough lead to hold them off.”

The contest started with Quitman scoring the first 11 points of the game, seven coming from Cali Deal, who after finishing with 16 points earned Player of the Week honors. Anna Leach also came up big, making two 3-pointers and finishing with 10 points. A.J. Gray pitched in with seven points and Taylor Borland added five. Three points from Taylor Harvey and a basket by Jaliegh Burns rounded out the scoring for the Lady Wolverines. With their 5th win in a row and 9th in the last ten games, Quitman improved to 16-7 on the year. Now losers of six of their last seven games, West Ouachita fell to 6-12 this season. 

Quitman 74 West Ouachita 62 (boys) – Logan Ponder, who earned Player of the Week honors, scored 10 of his game high 21 points in the third quarter to help Quitman to a 29-19 advantage in the frame that gave the hot shooting Wolverines a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. 

With the victory Quitman, ranked 8th in the Division IV “non-select” school power rankings coming in and expected to rise with their victory over the Class 5A opponent, improved to 15-7 on the year. West Ouachita lost their third straight to drop to 6-14 overall. 

The Wolverines won by turning in a remarkable shooting performance, making 29 of 49 shots for an impressive 59% field goal percentage bolstered by an incredible 9 of 15 (60%) shots made from three point land. 

Noah Leach also had a big game for the Wolverines, making 5 of 7 field goals to finish with 13 points while Brayden Smith and Braden Martin chipped in with 9 and 8 points respectively. Larsen Thomas scored seven points for his second highest total of the year and Riley Duck finished with six. Gavin Caskey had three and Eli Walker hit a basket as well for Quitman who tallied their second highest point total of the year.