It was Destrehan dominance from start to finish in Shreveport – and one monster night from Malachi Dabney.
Behind Dabney’s six touchdowns and 303 total yards, the Wildcats scorched the field against host Captain Shreve as they rolled to a 68-28 victory in non-district action to move to 5-2 on the season.
This was a matchup between two of the state’s highest scoring teams – each of which boasting one of Louisiana’s elite running backs in Destrehan’s Dabney and Shreve’s Jamarcea Plater.
But this night belonged to Dabney, who rushed for touchdowns of 3, 4, 56 and 70 yards – the first four DHS touchdowns of the night – and scored twice more on passes of 51 and 4 yards. He rushed for 212 yards on 12 carries and caught five passes for 81 yards.
Jackson Fields threw four touchdown passes on the night, including passes of 36 and 37 yards to Jaylan Ash and Jabari Mack. Damien Richard added two rushing scores for the Wildcats.
Destrehan has made several trips to north Louisiana the past two seasons – including three times in the playoffs alone last season. And on three of these occasions, including Friday’s game, the Wildcats topped the 60-point mark.
“Overall, I thought the kids handled the trip really well. We obviously have a lot of experience in traveling far distances and being able to perform,” said Destrehan head coach Marcus Scott. “Credit to the kids and the assistant coaches for doing a great job preparing for and handling the trip.”
Scott said it was important to keep the pressure on against an explosive team like Captain Shreve (4-3), which has posted some massive scoring totals – including outings of 56, 59 and 66 this season alone. Ditto for the need for a fast start – if the Gators get ahead and have full run of the playbook, slowing them becomes almost impossible.
“You want to make sure you stay ahead … you don’t want to get to where they’re up on you by a couple of scores. They’re so good on offense, you can’t afford to get behind,” Scott said.
While Destrehan’s own 68-point total will turn heads, the Wildcats held the Gators to 28 points, 17 below Shreve’s average total of 45 entering Friday’s game.
“It was certainly a playoff level game and atmosphere. We know what kind of team and program they have and we have a lot of respect for them,” Scott said. “We were able to get some stops early and we got a couple of turnovers that effectively gave us extra possessions. Against such a good offensive team like this – and it was the same against Airline in the playoffs for us last year – getting those extra possessions is the key.”
