With just one game left between Destrehan and an unbeaten district record – and undisputed district championship – the Wildcats weren’t about to be stopped Friday night.
Destrehan sealed the deal in District 8-5A with a 49-26 victory over visiting Thibodaux in a game DHS (8-2, 6-0) controlled for the majority of the night.
“It means everything,” said Destrehan’s Jabari Mack, who scored a touchdown and was busy in both the rushing and receiving game in the win. “I’ve been here at Destrehan for four years, and I’ve seen my 2026 guys work every day, in and out, and I’m just proud of those guys.”
With their second win over an eight-win team in as many weeks, Destrehan is in line for a potential bye week in round one of the playoffs. The Wildcats unofficially entered the night ranked fifth in Division I non-select power points. The top four teams will receive a bye.
“Whatever’s in front of us, we know we’ve got to dominate and we’ve got to win,” said Mack, an LSU committed wide receiver. That’s the mentality. That’s Destrehan.”
Destrehan head coach Marcus Scott – whose Wildcats have lost just one district game throughout his six-season tenure as head coach – said the team put a high priority on starting fast in this one.
“That is a very good, much improved Thibodaux team, and we had to make a few more plays in the second half,” Scott said. “I wasn’t happy with the amount of penalties we had, especially for this time of year, but we did some good things on both sides of the ball and we were able to control the game through our offense.
“Week-to-week, you never know who’s going to have to step up and take control of the game, whether it be offense, defense or special teams. It’s a team effort and the kids got the job done.”
Had Thibodaux won, it would have forced a tie atop the District 8-5A standings with Destrehan, as THS (8-2, 4-2) entered with just one district loss.
Head coach Lowell Narcisse’s Tigers struck first in this one, driving down the field and scoring on Damien Robinson’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Khyren Folse, giving THS a 6-0 lead.
Destrehan reached into its bags of tricks to answer. Jackson Fields pitched it behind the line to running back Malachi Dabney, who threw a long ball to Jaylan Ash for 64 yards down to the 11-yard line. That set up Damien Richard on a sweep for a touchdown run that made it a 7-6 Destrehan lead.
With 11:31 left in the second quarter, Dabney scored on a Wildcat QB run to make it 14-6, on a drive Jabari Mack was quite busy on, making several gains to set up the score.
After another Destrehan defensive stop, Fields connected with Ash on a redzone fade route for a score that gave the Wildcats a 21-6 advantage.
The Wildcats made a big defensive stop on a fourth down play in Thibodaux territory, giving the ball back to its offense on a short field.
Then it was Fields finding Dabney on a short pass for a score that made it 28-6 with 3:33 left in the first half.
Destrehan was in full control, but a defensive play got Thibodaux back in it. THS defensive back Amod Randolph jumped a sideline route and returned it for six, pushing Thibodaux back within two scores. A two-point pass from Robinson to Cohen Aucoin made it 28-14, which remained the score at the half.
The Wildcats shook it off and marched down the field to begin the second half. Mack hauled in a pass from Fields to help set up Mack’s own Wildcat QB touchdown run, making it 35-14.
Thibodaux answered on a Robinson to Vondarius Brown touchdown pass, making it 35-20 after a two-point conversion attempt was no good.
But the Tigers couldn’t get the stop they needed.
Destrehan punched it in on a Dabney 2-yard run on its ensuing drive late in the third quarter to make it 42-20.
Thibodaux answered again – but Destrehan made the Tigers work for this score, and the drive chewed up a lot of time. On a 4th and goal from the 2, Robinson handed it to Brown on an apparent sweep, but Brown turned and fired back to Robinson, who leaked out into the endzone for a score to make it 42-26. The conversion attempt was no good.
But the Tigers couldn’t get closer. An onside kick attempt was recovered by Destrehan, which began chewing up clock with the run. An errant snap on a field goal left DHS to turn it over on downs, but the Wildcat defense stopped Thibodaux on 4th and 15 on the ensuing drive to cement the victory. DHS capped on a final touchdown via a Richard scoring run.
Thibodaux rusher Cemiyan Adams has had several big games this season, but Destrehan’s defense was able to keep him – or the Tiger offense in general – from generating many explosive plays.
“Their skill guys are a handful. (Adams) runs hard and breaks a bunch of tackles,” said Scott. “They were a challenge, but our guys were able to get it done.
“We kind of got going after our loss to (Alexandria). It’s a credit to our assistant coaches and our players that we’ve been able to finish the regular season strong.”
