Destrehan knew it had a tough draw in the opening round, with a very battle-tested and proud Ouachita Parish team visiting Wildcat Stadium.
But the 10th-seeded Wildcats did what they do best in the postseason – win – this time taking an early lead and controlling the action on the way to a 30-12 victory over the No. 23 seeded Lions to advance to round two of the Division I non-select playoffs.
DHS (8-3)will travel to face No. 7 Northwood-Shreveport in the next round. Northwood defeated No. 26 Salmen 54-27 in round one to advance.
Jackson Fields threw three touchdown passes and Jabari Mack hauled in two of them to lead Destrehan offensively.
Ouachita Parish finishes the season with a 4-6 record – a deceiving mark given the level of competition the Lions played throughout the season, including tight losses to Captain Shreve, Ruston and West Monroe by a combined margin of five points. But Destrehan nonetheless moves on – the Wildcats have won six straight games following a 2-3 start to the season.
“It was a complete effort. Offensively, we were able to put some points up and take care of the ball. Defensively, we were able to make some timely stops when we needed them. Very proud of our players and coaches,” said Destrehan head coach Marcus Scott.
The Lions’ defense brought a distinct challenge to overcome. Defensive tackles Dylan Berymon (6’1, 305) and AJ Washington (6’0, 315) form a dominating wall, and running straight at the two big men has not yielded success for teams this season. As such, the Wildcats called a bit more on its passing game Friday night, and Fields and his weapons delivered – Mack, Phillip Wright III and Greg Wilfred all scored touchdowns for the Wildcats in this one.
“All week, we knew they were a force on the inside, and we were going to try to get it to our playmakers on the outside,” Fields said. “Our offensive line did a great job in pass protection – they gave us the opportunity for our playmakers to make plays and for me to get them the ball.”
Scott said Destrehan knew it needed to approach that interior duo with a lot of respect.
“Those two big defensive tackles – and they’re both juniors, by the way – they’re difference makers in the middle. We had to take what the defense gave us,” said Scott.
Destrehan led 3-0 before a Wilfred touchdown run on a jet sweep pushed the Wildcats’ advantage to 9-0.
Late in the second quarter, Fields looked deep and found a wide open Phillip Wright III, who took the top off the defense and sprinted for a 73-yard touchdown that gave the Wildcats a 16-0 lead just before halftime.
But that score didn’t hold into the break as Ouachita drove down the field in the two minutes and change it had on the clock, with Montrell Carter’s 2-yard touchdown run cutting the lead to 16-6 at the half.
Midway through the third quarter, Ouachita prepared to punt from midfield – but the Lions were looking to make something happened and called for a fake punt. Destrehan sniffed it out and stonewalled the attempt to take over at midfield.
Fields connected with Wright downfield again, with Wright setting up a short fade pass from Fields to Jabari Mack for a touchdown with 3:02 left in the third quarter, making it 23-6.
Conner added his second touchdown run of the night just over a minute later. A pass over the deep middle to C.J. Spurs – and an ensuing personal foul on the hit – set the Lions up deep in Destrehan territory. The touchdown made it 23-13.
Conner’s touchdown run came on a similar play to the one he scored on earlier. Turnabout was fair play for Destrehan, which drove down the field and finished with another Fields to Mack face, this time to the same corner of the opposite endzone. That pushed Destrehan ahead 30-12.
Ouachita’s last chance to keep its season alive was extinguished by the DHS defense, which corralled Conner on a fourth down run short of the sticks to force a turnover on downs.
Destrehan will play in round two for the 12th consecutive season next week.
One thing the Wildcats will look to correct comes in the penalty department – there were a lot of flags on the field Friday, including several personal foul calls.
“That was disappointing. We need to get to work on cleaning that up, and we’ll start tonight,” Scott said.
But overall it was a very good night for the Wildcats and Scott, who was back on the sidelines for a playoff game for the first time since 2022. Scott was absent from the playoffs last postseason as he underwent a kidney transplant. He remains unbeaten in the opening round during his tenure at Destrehan.
“It really does feel good to be out here with the kids and our coaches to compete here in the playoffs. I missed it last year for obvious reasons – I’m very happy to be back,” Scott said.
