It’s been a tough year for the Wildcats, but after beating East Ascension and St. Amant, Destrehan is back in the hunt for a state title. But while the playoffs are a familiar place for the team, this year the Wildcats will start from the bottom of the pack after receiving the 26th seed and will have to work their way up.
That doesn’t seem to bother Destrehan head coach Stephen Robicheaux.
“I think it’s what we deserve, but for a 5-5 team to get a 26th seed, that says a lot about our strength of schedule this year,” he said.
Destrehan played an extremely tough non-district schedule that included Thibodaux, Lutcher and Karr, all games that the Wildcats lost. Things didn’t get any easier in district, as the team faced even more powerful offenses in Hahnville and East St. John.
While Destrehan was able to rebound in the last two games of the regular season, they will face yet another tough challenge when they take the field against St. Paul in Covington.
The Wolves have been unstoppable for most of the season, and enter the game with a 9-1 record. Their only loss came in a 24-26 shocker to Karr, but they rolled after that, beating Central and cruising through district with a 7-0 record. The reason St. Paul has been so successful is because of their offense’s ability to confuse defenses.
“They run a multiple Wing T offense and have a lot of different formations,” Robicheaux said. “Right now, we have seen 45 different formations on film and our defense is going to have to be very disciplined against their misdirection.”
The Wolves are extremely balanced offensively. Quarterback Alec Duncan has thrown for 1,107 yards and 10 touchdowns, while running back Stephon Smith has 758 yards on 112 carries. Smith has also scored eight touchdowns on the ground. The Wolves also do a good job of spreading the ball around, but their leading receiver is Jermaine Sams with 516 yards on 24 catches.
Though their offense has been impressive, St. Paul is also very strong on the defensive side of the ball.
“This line might be the best in the state,” Robicheaux said. “If we can get the ball into the secondary, we will be OK, but that’s going to be a very tough task.”
The leader of the Wolf defense is end Houston Bates. The 6’2, 218 senior runs a 4.80 40 and has already committed to LSU.
And even though getting by Bates and the rest of the line will be a tough task, Robicheaux is still waiting for his team to play at their best. Most of the Wildcats’ losses have been by huge margins, while their wins seem to come only after a strong second half performance.
That was the case last week when Destrehan scored 10 points in the final six minutes to beat St. Amant 34-33.
“I wasn’t happy with how we played last week, but the team showed a lot of resiliency coming back from that 9-point deficit,” Robicheaux said. “The effort is there, but we are still making way too many mistakes.”
Those mistakes seem to come from a different place every week and range from missed tackles, to false starts to dropped passes. But if the Wildcats can play mistake free, they just might make a playoff run after all.
“We are going to have to play a good game to beat St. Paul,” Robicheaux said. “I think it’s a good draw for us and our guys are excited.”
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