Hahnville head football coach Greg Boyne largely avoided the subject for weeks.
“We can talk about it now,” he said with a laugh.
The showdown is here, and the stakes are as high as they’ve been in some time. Hahnville will travel to Destrehan this Friday night in a game that will determine the course of the District 8-5A championship, potential home playoff dates for both schools – and, of course, a year’s worth of bragging rights that go to the winner of the annual Battle on the River.
Both Boyne and Destrehan head coach Marcus Scott said that when it comes to this game, or any big game, you try to stay in routine and prepare like you would for any other Friday night as best you can.
But they also were in agreement: it’s not quite the same as any other game.
“We do our best to keep our approach to ‘it’s just the next game,’ but obviously when there’s toilet paper in your trees and shaving cream in your front yard, that’s kind of hard,” Boyne quipped.
Scott said there’s no avoiding the pomp and circumstance around the game completely, and that it’s then a matter of how a team handles the situation as it is.
“There’s no way around the distractions,” Scott said. “They’re going to be present and we have to manage them. To do that, you need to be task-oriented. You focus on the process of getting to Friday night as opposed to worrying about Friday night.”
Hahnville enters this game at 6-1 overall, 5-0 in district play and has won five in a row. It is one win away from completing an unbeaten district season and securing the 8-5A crown with it. The Tigers unofficially rank No. 8 in Division I non-select power points (via GeauxPreps.com) and a victory on Friday would allow the Tigers to go a long way to cementing not just an opening round playoff game at home, but a clear path to others in the subsequent rounds.
All that stands in the Tigers’ way is its old rival – and one that’s had Hahnville’s number in recent years.
Destrehan has won six in a row over Hahnville and 11 of the past 12 games between the teams in this series. Hahnville’s last victory over Destrehan came in 2017 – when the Pooka Williams and Jha’Quan Jackson-led Tigers made a run to the state championship game.
Despite that recent dominance, Scott says the Wildcats (5-3. 3-1) are embracing a role that’s been quite unfamiliar to the program, not just in the series, but at any time.
“We’re the underdog,” Scott said.
“They’re the team that’s undefeated in district. We haven’t been an underdog in quite some time, but we certainly are now. It’s gonna be up to us to do our best to keep up with a red-hot Hahnville team.”
Regardless of who is the favorite or the underdog here, Destrehan also has an eye on the District 8-5A crown. A win would create at least a two-way tie atop the standings with Hahnville and potentially a 3-way tie with Terrebonne if the latter wins this week.
This is also a relatively unfamiliar position for Hahnville’s current group.
“You do try to have everything like you would normally, but when you walk into that stadium Friday night … we don’t have a kid who’s really been in that environment,” said Boyne. “We have guys who have played in this game, but this is end of the season, playing for the district championship, playing for a home game in the playoffs … you’re playing to beat Destrehan, but it’s not just to beat Destrehan. If we were playing Thibodaux for the district championship, that’s a big game. The fact that it’s your biggest rival, it adds a layer to it.”
There are other layers to this one.
This will be Boyne’s first Hahnville/Destrehan clash as head coach of the Tigers – but just a year ago, he was on the other side. For 20 years, he was a key member of the Wildcats’ coaching staff, first on Stephen Robicheaux’s staff, then on Scott’s. The lone years during that time he spent coaching away from Destrehan, he did so at West Jefferson as offensive coordinator in the late 2000s – alongside Scott, who was then the Buccaneers’ head coach. It’s a collective group of coaches who also won the ultimate prize together in 2022, as Destrehan captured the 5A non-select state championship.
So, when it came to putting on the film and breaking down the team he’s been so familiar with, Boyne won’t pretend it felt natural.
“It’s very weird,” Boyne said of the feeling. “Starting Saturday, with ‘Destrehan breakdown’ at the top of my little notebook. I know all of the guys, I know all of the coaches. I’m still close with all of them. It’s weird.”
Boyne knows plenty about how the Destrehan coaches think, what they like and don’t like – and vice versa.
“You don’t want to overthink it,” Boyne said. “And at the same time, they know what Iike to do. You think about things we can do off of what we’ve done, what they expect us to do. They know I like to run the ball. Those conversations – they know what I like to do, and I know what they don’t like to see from an offense. It goes both ways. You can’t overthink it.”
Scott concurs.
“That can work against you,” Scott said. “You think you know someone’s tendencies, but you have to be prepared for the ‘what ifs’ with a lot of that.
“All of us have coached together for so long. There’s a lot of familiarity for both sides.”
There’s also plenty of mutual respect.
Scott sees an offensive team led by running back Calvin Smith, wide receiver Kobe Louis and quarterback Landen Teague and notes only one team has been able to limit that unit this season – E.D. White in Week 2.
“Only one team has figured it out, and we’re in that number of teams who haven’t yet but are trying,” said Scott.
Smith, Scott says, presents challenges in that he brings both speed and power to the table as a runner.
“A lot of times, it’s one or the other. You add his ability to catch the ball out the backfield, and it makes him a triple-threat,” Scott said.
Teague, Scott said, has done a tremendous job distributing the ball to his playmakers in the sophomore’s first season as Hahnville’s starting quarterback. And he recognized the connection Teague’s made with Louis, who Scott said is as good as anybody with the ball in his hands.
Defensively, Scott sees a Tigers defense under defensive coordinator Malter Scobel – another former DHS assistant under Robicheaux – that is active and makes plays across all three levels.
“They’ve got good speed and they’re very active … a number of kids who can make plays, and they all work together to play good defense,” Scott said.
Boyne looks over at the Destrehan offense and sees the group he worked so many days with, starting with quarterback Jackson Fields.
“He’s a special talent,” Boyne said. “We used to call him gym rat, because he’s like a basketball kid who just wants to shoot all day. He just wants to throw the ball … I don’t think you stop him, completely. You might outscore them, might get a turnover or two, but they’ll score some points. You know it going in, you have to weather it.”
Part of the reason they score so many is the receiving corps Fields is throwing to.
“There are colleges in this state that don’t have the wide receiving talent they have,” said Boyne. “Four Division I receivers. Their fifth guy, Duquan Dabney, would start for any other team in the state.”
Boyne credited the job first-year DHS offensive coordinator Clint Harrison has done with the group. Boyne said Scott, Harrison, defensive coordinator Tim Taffi and the DHS staff as a whole probably don’t get the credit they deserve this season for overcoming the injuries that have taken a toll, including Fields for nearly half the season, running back Shane Ward and defensive back Jhase Thomas.
“To do what they’ve done, holding it together with the injuries they’ve had, it’s been an exceptional job,” Boyne said.
Defensively, Boyne said he knows what his Tigers are in for.
“They’ll play with good technique. They’re gonna pursue the ball, rally 9, 10, 11 guys to the ball. They’ll be fundamentally sound … they’re not missing a beat, with a lot of new faces on the field, and that’s a credit to Coach Taffi and Coach Scott.”
