ABBEVILLE – Steven Blanco scored three touchdowns and Kaiden Zenon had a touchdown rushing and passing as St. Martinville Senior High clinched a share of the District 5-3A title with a 42-19 win over Abbeville Thursday.

Blanco scored a pair of 5 yard runs and a 70 yard run that gave the Tigers a 42-7 lead before Abbeville had a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns for the final margin.

With the win, SMSH improved to 5-4 overall and is a perfect 3-0 in district going into the final district game at home against Crowley next week.

The only other school that has a chance to tie SMSH for the district title is Erath, which finished the district with a 3-1 mark. Abbeville fell to 6-3 overall and 1-2 in district.

“We played a hard schedule in the beginning and now it’s starting to come through for us and we are playing pretty good right now.”

A pair of first quarter touchdowns gave the Tigers a 14-0 lead right off the bat as SMSH took the ball and scored on Blanco’s first touchdown of the night, followed by Zenon’s run.

St. Martinville’s defense held the Wildcats scoreless in the first quarter and to one touchdown in the second quarter while building a 28-7 lead at the break.

“We wanted to get out to a fast start to make them get out of what they wanted to do,” Derouen said.

Blanco’s two touchdowns in the second half put the Tigers up big but Abbeville scored twice in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 42-19 but the Wildcats were not able to get any closer.

Now SMSH goes for the outright district title against Crowley Friday and then prepare of the playoffs.

“We’re in playoff mode now,” Derouen said. “We have to be, we have to be ready to play and tight up where we need to work on.”

“We’re ready to go.”