Destrehan is one win away from returning to the Class 5A state championship, though they needed a big time comeback against Higgins to get into this Friday’s semifinal game with Baton Rouge Central. Trailing 18-6 heading into the final quarter, the Wildcat offense finally got rolling against Higgins, scoring three touchdowns in the fourth to come from behind and shock the Hurricanes 27-18. Though Destrehan head coach Stephen Robicheaux would have preferred that his team play as well as they did in the fourth quarter for the first three quarters of the game, he was proud of how his team weathered the initial Higgins onslaught.
“I loved the fourth quarter, but I was kind of concerned about how we played for the other three quarters,” Robicheaux said. “Still though, my hat goes off to our kids and how they fought back to come through with the win.”
Higgins, who had been unstoppable in the first two rounds of the playoffs, jumped on the Wildcats early with a 1-yard touchdown run by Edward Bernard in the first. Bernard stretched the score to 12-0 with a 74-yard touchdown in the second, and it began to look like Destrehan’s 26-game win streak might come to an end.
However, the Wildcats were able to do just enough offensively towards the end of the second to get senior kicker Ryan Rome close enough to do some damage. Rome connected on a 32-yarder, then hit a 26-yard field goal to cut the Higgins lead in half.
But Higgins’ offense showed no signs of slowing down to start the third, marching downfield for another score – which would be Bernard’s third of the game – to stretch their advantage to 18-6.
That’s when Destrehan finally woke up.
Wynrick Smothers threw two touchdown passes in the fourth, one an 8-yard toss to Brandon Armstrong and another a 75-yard strike to Kyron King, to give his team a 20-18 lead.
Destrehan then held Higgins on fourth down and scored once more to officially put the game out of reach.
“I don’t think anything changed in the fourth, I just think our kids expected to win,” Robicheaux said. “We had that big touchdown pass in the fourth and they went for it on fourth down on their own 24, which I still don’t understand. That allowed us to pick up that final touchdown.”
Minutes after the conclusion of the game, Robicheaux’s mind was likely on Baton Rouge Central, who his Wildcats will face at home on Friday.
Central entered the playoffs as the No. 14 seed, but only lost once during the regular season. In the playoffs, they have been impressive, knocking off No. 4 seed Brother Martin and No. 6 seed Acadian back-to-back. However, the most impressive thing may be that Central is only allowing 10 points per game in the postseason.
“They do a very good job on defense and they don’t give up a lot of points,” Robicheaux said. “They are a scrappy team and they play hard. They are a lot like us – they keep finding ways to win.
“Offensively, they have a quarterback that gets it done. It’s going to be a very tough game for us.”
One thing that will definitely play into Destrehan’s favor is that the game will be at home.
“Playing at home is going to be key,” Robicheaux said. “If you had told me before the season that we would be playing a semifinal game at home, I would have been really excited. I’m happy that our kids get to play at home and our fans get to see us.
“I hope we don’t disappoint.”
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