Defense rises to the occasion as Destrehan advances to quarterfinals

Destrehan's Steven Walker leaps at Dutchtown passer Pierson Parent during Friday night's Class 5A second round playoff game at Wildcat Stadium.

Leading by three but without its powerful tailback Razan Keller in the late stages of its Class 5A second round playoff battle with Dutchtown, Destrehan needed to find a way to put a tenacious Griffins team away.

Kelvin Lea answered that call by making one of his own – a house call.

Lea’s interception return for a touchdown slammed the door in a 20-10 victory at home for No. 5 Destrehan, which held off the No. 12 seeded Griffins to advance to the Class 5A state quarterfinals. Awaiting the Wildcats is No. 13 Ruston, which knocked out No. 4 Pontchatoula Friday, 42-26.

Dutchtown (6-2) faced a third and seven play at its own 9 yard line with 1:49 left to play in the game when Griffins’ quarterback Pierson Parent’s pass was deflected. Lea caught the tipped pass and turned it into a pick six touchdown return, setting the Wildcats (9-1) off into celebration.

“It felt good,” Lea said. “I dropped back into coverage, saw the ball and made a play … it was an amazing feeling. Really amazing.”

Said Destrehan coach Marcus Scott, “We had them in an obvious passing situation and we were able to play some coverage and get a deflection. We took advantage of that and got a big play that put us up two scores … Dutchtown’s a tough opponent and a good program. They played tough and deserve a lot of credit.”

Lea’s interception return was one in a series of key Destrehan stops down the stretch to preserve what was a small lead for most of the fourth quarter. But first, the Wildcats had to jump ahead of the Griffins, who had led since midway through the second quarter until the final minute of the third quarter.

With 57 seconds left in the third, DHS faced a fourth-and-3 near midfield. It trotted out a power set and gave the ball to Keller, who made good on that faith in him – he surged through a hole on the left side and took it the distance for a touchdown, making it a 13-10 DHS lead.

But Keller was knocked out of the game with 11:16 left in the fourth quarter after being tackled on a second down play, and did not return. It seemed to knock some wind out of the Wildcats’ offense, which had garnered some momentum behind its big back.

The Wildcats were up to the task defensively. First, a third down sack of Parent by Quintin Clark in the final seconds of the third quarter forced Dutchtown to punt from inside its own 10. Destrehan capped the ensuing drive with a 52-yard Will Bryant field goal attempt, which sailed no good for Bryant’s first miss of the night after hitting two field goals earlier in the game.

Later in the quarter, Dutchtown faced another punting situation following a three-and-out, this time from its own 9-yard-line. The punt went just 12 yards, and Destrehan took over on the Dutchtown 21. It drove inside the 10, but another missed field goal left the score 13-10.

Lea made a big tackle behind the line of scrimmage for a loss of four and set Dutchtown back on its next drive immediately. Two plays later, it was forced to punt again. Dutchtown likewise forced Destrehan to punt the ball back after three plays, with 4:58 remaining.

A holding penalty set Dutchtown back and eventually set up a third-and-19 play. Adams cashed in, intercepting Parent and setting Destrehan up on the Dutchtown 34. But the Wildcats were forced to punt to the Griffins again after a false start penalty on fourth and five from the 29 pushed them back.

“We didn’t help ourselves,” Scott said. “We had a lot of short fields we didn’t take advantage of.”

Likewise, Destrehan wasn’t interested in allowing Dutchtown’s offense to gain any footing. Lynard Harris made a strong tackle on first down, then after an incompletion on second down, Lea made the clinching takeaway.

One significant key throughout the night was Destrehan not allowing Dutchtown rusher Dylan Sampson a chance to get going. Sampson scored on a touchdown run in the second quarter, set up by his own 41-yard run earlier in that drive, but otherwise it was a quiet night for one of the state’s more electrifying playmakers.

“Hat’s off to him. He’s a great player,” Lea said. “We had to contain him. We can’t just let him pop it.”

The senior added that with points proving hard to come by for both teams in the first half, the defense collectively understood this needed to be a strong performance in the second half.

“We had to stop them. We knew if they scored, we’re in a deep hole. So we had to carry that load tonight,” Lea said.

Scott said the team made some adjustments at halftime in an effort to make Dutchtown’s offense more one-dimensional.

“Their whole offense really came out and executed in the first half, and they played really well on defense,” Scott said. “We were able to tweak some things and allow ourselves to get them in long yardage situations.”

The win was the ninth in a row for Destrehan.

 

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