St. Paul’s Wolves coming off a 10-2 season and the defending District 7-5A champs, go into battle tonight hosting the Class 4A Karr Cougars at Hunter Stadium with kickoff set for 7 o’clock.

The Cougars had the Wolves number last year, scratching out a 26-24 victory.

Wolves’ head coach Ken Sears said his club is facing a very tough challenge in the opener going against an extremely talented opponent.

St. Paul’s offense picks up positive yardage against Archbishop Rummel in Friday’s Rusty Brauner Jamboree. The Wolves downed the Raiders 20-14. Tonight the Wolves host the Karr Cougars in the season opener. (File Photo by Gwen Ladner)

“Karr is a very athletic team. They are also a big, physical team, which is well coached. They are gigantic and very fast,” Sears said.

“Offensively, they graduated their quarterback, but their new quarterback is an extremely good athlete. They also have tremendous receivers, who have lots of experience,” Sears added.

Sears said the Cougars return seven defensive starters and they know how to fly to the ball.

Sears said offensively their running back Jonathon Hill (6-0, 185) is explosive and they have a gigantic offensive line.

Sears said his team would have to play smart football and eliminate mental mistakes.

“We can’t afford to turn the ball over. I see it being a very physical game. We have to be able to stop their running game, which I think is their strength,” Sears said,

“They definitely present a defensive challenge for us going against their big offensive line. We will need to put together some drives to control the ball. We will have to make good reads before attempting to throw the ball,” Sears added.

The Wolves, 10-2 last year, edged the Archbishop Rummel Raiders 20-14 in the Rusty Brauner Jamboree with senior return man Jermaine Sams returning a kickoff 94 yards for a TD to give the Wolves the victory. Fullback Dylan Long topped the Wolves’ rushers with 40 yards on just four carries, while junior Kris Brumfield gained 19 yards on three rushes.

Senior quarterback Alec Duncan completed just 1-of-6 passes, but it was a big one hooking up with senior running back Mikhail Washington from 24-yards out on a scoring toss. Washington also tallied on a one-yard run. Junior place kicker Trent Domingue made two of three PATs with his final attempt after Sams’ TD kickoff return being blocked.

The Class 4A Cougars, which went 11-2 last year, made it to the quarterfinals, falling to the Salmen Spartans 25-24 in overtime.

Karr head coach Jabbar Juluke is in his eighth season with the Cougars, which run a multiple set offense.

The Cougars defeated Higgins 14-10 in last week’s jamboree played at Hoss Memtsas Stadium.

“St. Paul’s is going to be a fundamentally sound team. They have a really good defensive lineman in Mickey Johnson. Their middle linebacker No. 11 (Tyler Tourelle) is a good ballplayer as well,” Juluke said.

“They are also pretty solid offensively. They want to run the football, but they like to open up occasionally with their passing game. They are a very balanced team,” Juluke added.

“Coach Sears and his staff do a great job with their team. We are looking forward to playing a good football team in a good high school environment at St. Paul’s.”

Juluke said his top two defensive players are senior strong safety Matthew Bailey (5-11, 215), a four-year starter, who is a verbal commitment to Tulane and senior defensive end Timothy Johnson (6-2, 235), a three-year starter.