After destroying Pineville in the first round, the Destrehan Wildcats will travel to face a foe that they defeated just three weeks ago – East St. John.
The Wildcats will head into that matchup with their district rival after a dominant 54-0 win against Pineville. The Destrehan offense breezed through that game, with Will Matthews scoring on a 96-yard touchdown run on his team’s first offensive play.
On Destrehan’s next series, quarterback Marquise Darensbourg marched the Wildcats down the field with passes to Alfred Smith, John Williams and Tramaine Armstrong – all of which went for first downs. Darensbourg capped the scoring drive with a 6-yard pass to Smith to put Destrehan up 14-0 in the first quarter.
The Wildcats found the end zone again on their fourth possession of the game when Kirk Merritt ran a counter and weaved his way through defenders for an 82-yard touchdown.On the ensuing kickoff, Destrehan’s Isaiah Sterling recovered a fumble at the 31. Williams carried out of the wildcat formation for a first down, and Darensbourg ran through the middle for a 6-yard score to put Destrehan up 27-0.
Pineville couldn’t get anything going on their next possession and turned the ball over on downs at the Destrehan 42. The Wildcats wasted little time getting back on the scoreboard, with Williams turning a short pass into a 27-yard score.
It didn’t get much better for Pineville in the second half, with Smith returning the opening kickoff 95 yards to give the Wildcats a 41-0 lead.
Destrehan played a majority of the second half with their backups on the field, and after scoring two more touchdowns in the third, ran the clock out in the fourth quarter.
“I thought getting started real quickly with Will scoring on a 96-yard run set the tone for the game,” Destrehan head coach Stephen Robicheaux said. “Marquise was 10-for-12 and did a great job. We played well and ran the ball well.”Robicheaux was just as impressed with his defense for pitching a shutout, even with the backups playing for a majority of the second half.”
“We played the way you want to be playing in the playoffs,” he said.
But the road will get a lot tougher on Friday against East St. John.
Though the Wildcats beat East St. John 28-14 on Nov. 7, ESJ actually jumped out to a 14-0 lead. Destrehan regrouped in the second half, using a punishing ground game and opportunistic defense to outscore ESJ 28-0 to end the game.The only advantage Robicheaux sees with facing East St. John again is that his team knows just how good ESJ actually is.
“The kids know what to expect. Our kids respect them and they know they need a good week of practice and we need to have a good game in order to win,” he said. “East St. John’s record didn’t indicate how good they were because they played a tough schedule.”
East St. John finished the year with a 5-5 record, but they played both Rummel and John Curtis in the first three weeks of the season. Last week, ESJ knocked off John Ehret, who was seeded higher in the Class 5A playoffs, 28-18.
While Robicheaux could only name one advantage to facing East St. John again, there are plenty of disadvantages.“They know that they can play with us and they know that we are beatable,” he said. “They had success against us and it gives them confidence going into the game. When people see our speed on the field, they know how fast we really play and they can prepare for it better.”
Dynamic quarterback Xavier Lewis leads a high-powered ESJ offense. Robicheaux called Lewis, who has committed to LSU, a defensive coordinator’s worst nightmare.
In his team’s loss to Destrehan, Lewis passed for 166 yards and rushed for 87 more.
“He’s just a special player,” Robicheaux said of Lewis. “He can definitely make plays at any time and he can go the distance any time. There is a reason he is an LSU commit. He’s what makes them go.”
Robicheaux said it’s nearly impossible to stop Lewis, but you have to contain him in order to have success.
“We had a problem getting off the field on third down because he made plays for them,” Robicheaux said. “You have to make him work down the field and earn a long drive. If you can contain Lewis, hopefully you have a good chance to win.”
But Destrehan is confident in the ground game, which had a lot of success against East St. John in their victory.
Merritt and Matthews combined for four touchdowns and 226 yards the first time these two teams met this season.
“Every week, the key to our success is being able to run the football,” Robicheaux said. “On defense, we have to stop the run and force [ESJ] to throw the football.”
However, Destrehan will have to pull out the win in a hostile environment. This season, eight of the Wildcats 11 games were played in Destrehan, but the Wildcats did pick up an impressive road win over Thibodaux in October.
That victory is one of the reasons Robicheaux is not worried about playing on the road Friday.
“This is a very mature team that has a lot of senior leadership,” he said. “They went to Thibodaux and beat a very good football team. I think they will be fine.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Be the first to comment