Wildcats face another powerful offense in No. 5 West Jefferson

Destrehan quaterback Donovan Isom throws a screen pass to Rickey Jefferson in the first quarter of Friday’s loss to Karr.

Destrehan didn’t do much to excite head coach Stephen Robicheaux in last week’s 45-7 loss to Karr, but the Wildcats must turn things around quickly with fifth-ranked West Jefferson coming to town on Friday.

The Buccaneers are 2-0 on the season after thrashing John Ehret and Helen Cox by scores of 57-23 and 28-7, respectively. On offense, they are led by a duo of talented receivers in Ronald Lewis and Devin Scott. Lewis recently committed to Arizona State over offers from Baylor, Illinois, Vanderbilt and Florida International. Last season, he caught 40 passes for 575 yards and six touchdowns. He has also been named to the Class 5A All-State team as a kick returner for the last two years.

Scott, meanwhile, has committed to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Last week against Helen Cox, Scott caught two touchdowns of 40 and 78 yards.

"They have two really good receivers in Lewis and Scott and they are both big-time players for them," Destrehan coach Robicheaux said. "Their quarterback isn’t as fast as Karr’s, but he throws the ball well and they have a good tight end, good running back and an offensive lineman that committed to ULL. They score a lot of points and we are going to have to come to play."

Against Cox, West Jefferson quarterback Dhavin Gougis Jr. completed only six passes, but those passes went for 161 yards. Along with two passing touchdowns, he also completed a two-point conversion to tight end Draper Riley and ran for another score.

For Destrehan fans, West Jefferson may seem eerily similar to Karr on offense.

Destrehan’s lone highlight against Karr took place on the first play from scrimmage when receiver Rickey Jefferson caught a screen pass from Donovan Isom and took it 64 yards for a score.

After that, Edna Karr (2-0) scored 45 straight points, outrushing the Wildcats 253-37. Defensivley, Karr held Destrehan to only 137 yards and blocked two punts. One of those blocked punts was returned for a touchdown.

"Karr is real good," Robicheaux said. "When you make mistakes against a good team like Karr, 45-7 will be the result. We made a lot of mistakes Friday and it showed in the score."

Robicheaux felt that he over-coached his squad last week, which took some of his defense’s aggressiveness away.

"I am going to get that corrected," he said. "I just think we need to do a better job of assignments and offensively we need to make sure we keep the ball in our hands and catch passes. We need to get better at fundamentals and doing what we need to do."

The Wildcats should have Jefferson back healthy for Helen Cox as well. The receiver injured his ankle against Karr and was held out late because Robicheaux said the team didn’t want to "push it."

Jefferson will be an important weapon if the Wildcats hope to pull off the upset.

"West Jefferson is very aggressive on defense. They blitz a lot and attack," Robicheaux said. "They have good athletes in the secondary, a good d-lineman and some good linebackers so they will give us some problems."

But for Robicheaux, success on Friday will come down to two things.

"We need to control the football and not make mistakes," he said. "We need to get back to playing fighting Wildcat football."