October 2, 2002

Destrehan struggles early, but downs Thibodaux

By Joe Halm
Sports Correspondent
(Photo by Joe Halm)

On a warm Sunday afternoon, the Destrehan Wildcats fought tooth and nail with the Thibodaux Tigers in the district opener.

Tropical Storm Isidore caused the cancellation of practices late in the week, and it showed as the Wildcats had trouble putting away the Tigers.

"We had some trouble in the beginning with executing our offense early," Head Coach Steven Robicheaux said. "It looked like we were a team that had missed some practices early on in the game."

The first quarter began with a Thibodaux turnover on the Destrehan 15-yard line and ended with the Wildcats knocking on the Tigers' door.

Each team touched the ball twice and both failed to cross the goal line in the opening quarter of play.

Destrehan's Daniel Bickham ended the scoring drought early in the second quarter with a 3-yard touchdown run. Bickham took the toss and slid into the end zone between two defenders.

With 11:39 left in the half, the Wildcats controlled the scoreboard, 7-0.

Thibodaux answered with its only scoring drive of the game. Quarterback Devin Steib, who threw for 101 yards on eight completions in the first half, connected with Ernest Harvey for a key 35-yard gain early in the drive.

Running back Mike Washington completed the drive with a seven yard touchdown run over his left tackle and into the end zone.

The Wildcats responded to the Tigers’ drive with one of their own.

Starting on the 31-yard line, Destrehan marched 69 yards down the field with passes to Fred Smith, and runs by DeMarko Hutchinson and Bickham led the team to the one-yard line.

Bickham punched the ball in for his second rushing touchdown of the day.

The half ended with Destrehan holding off a late Tiger drive and keeping the score, 14-7.

Washington led in rushing in the first half with nine carries for 49 yards while Bickham recorded 43 yards on eight carries.

According to Robicheaux, the Wildcats gave the Tigers some momentum in the first half.

"I think we gave them a little bit of momentum letting them score in the second quarter," he said.

The opening drive of the second half ended after Destrehan received a personal foul penalty.

Thibodaux received the ball in great field position on the Destrehan 41-yard line, but the good fortunes of the Tigers died on the Wildcat six-yard line.

Washington fumbled the ball and the Wildcats quickly pounced on it to end the Tiger drive.

Destrehan started its drive with 6:10 left on the third quarter clock and crossed the goal line with 11:52 left in the game. The Wildcats kept the ball on the ground for most of the drive. Hutchinson ran the ball into the end zone after faking a pitch to Bickham.

The scoring drive put the game out of reach for the Tigers who struggled to keep the ball. On the next drive, Thibodaux handed the ball back to the Wildcats on a bad exchange from the center.

The turnover resulted in Destrehan's final scoring drive as Hutchinson connected with Chris Bullock for a 15-yard touchdown reception.

The score pushed the Wildcats’ lead to 28-7, which proved to be the final score.

Destrehan finished the game with 293 total yards of offense, 53 more yards than the Tigers. The Wildcats also rushed for a total of 179 yards.

Hutchinson finished the game going 10 for 18 for 114 yards in the air and gaining 76 yards on the ground. Bickham pitched in with 17 carries for 96 yards.

The Wildcats will continue district play this Friday at home against Central Lafourche at 7 p.m.

"Right now, we are 4-0 in the top half of the district and we need to get back to fundamentals if we want to win next week," Robicheaux said.