It took Destrehan a half to shake the cobwebs off after an unusual Week 10 bye, but the Wildcats proved dominant once again from there in a 44-23 Class 5A playoff victory over Denham Springs.
The No. 3 seeded Wildcats advance to round two, where they will host No. 14 Barbe, 33-27 winners over Haughton.
C.J. Prieto scored two defensive touchdowns while Kade Granier passed for three scores and nearly 300 yards.
“There was a lot of craziness going on tonight,” Destrehan coach Stephen Robicheaux said. “It was up and down, kickoff returns, blocked kicks, interception returns, you name it … Denham Springs has a very good team and they did some things to hurt us. I thought in the second half, our coaches and our kids regrouped and it showed on the field.”
It was Destrehan’s 10th consecutive win this season.
It looked like Destrehan (10-0) might break the game open early on after the Wildcats blocked a Yellowjackets punt and Prieto scooped and scored to make it 7-0 early in the first quarter.
“That was a big play for us,” Robicheaux said. “There was kind of a high snap, and one of their guys tried to pick it up behind the line. It was a heads up play (by Prieto). We’ll take a score any way we can get it.”
But Denham Springs 95-6) unveiled a wrinkle on their second drive of the night, breaking out the Wildcat formation with tailbacks Trye Golmond and Robert Thomas taking turns leading the attack. A 35 yard run by Thomas helped set up a field goal, then Denham Springs took a 10-7 lead at the end of the first quarter when Thomas scored on a 7-yard run set up by Golmond’s 78-yard burst up the middle.
“(Golmon) hurt us a little bit when they put him back there,” Robicheaux said. “We made some uncharacteristic mistakes. Give them credit, (because) they were playing inspired football.”
Destrehan fired back with a Granier to Justin Jefferson touchdown pass to cap its next drive, but Denham Springs had another big play up its sleeve, this time on a 99-yard kickoff return by Thomas.
“I don’t remember the last time we gave up a kickoff return for a score,” Robicheaux mused. “It’s been a long time.”
Denham Springs tried an onside kick and succeeded, threatening to take a two score advantage in DHS territory. But Destrehan’s defense held firm. Then Dillon Boyle’s interception of a Granier deep pass gave Denham Springs more life, but the Yellowjackets again couldn’t capitalize — Destrehan’s defense caught up to the Wildcat, forcing DSHS into a conventional attack.
Granier dialed up Mike Young on a long pass resulting in a 54-yard touchdown, putting Destrehan back on top 21-17 in the second quarter.
Then, just before halftime, John Williams scored on a 35-yard pass from Granier with less than a minute left — Williams caught the ball and instead of running out of bounds to stop the clock, he cut back inside, made a bevy of tacklers miss and rolled in for the touchdown to give DHS a 28-17 lead at halftime.
Destrehan never looked back from there. The Wildcats recorded a safety on Denham Spring’s opening drive of the second half, then Denham’s second drive resulted Prieto’s second return touchdown, this time on an interception.
Kristian Mosely added another touchdown run for Destrehan.
“We challenged our guys at the half,” Robicheaux said. “They knew we weren’t playing football the Destrehan way. (Williams’ touchdown before half) was a really big play for momentum. Our kids and our staff did a tremendous job figuring it out and putting it together in the second half.”
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