With senior Destrehan quarterback Kohen Granier sidelined with a knee injury he suffered in the first half of his team’s Sept. 23 against Hahnville, it was fair for Wildcats observers to wonder how different the team’s offensive attack would look with sophomore passer J.R. Blood leading the way for an entire game. It’s looked pretty darned close, so far. The Wildcats leaned on the run a little more Friday night in its 44-17 victory over visiting Terrebonne, with Destrehan generating over 400 yards of rushing offense for the second time this season. Blood stepped up to make a few big throws that led to conversions and splash plays. The Destrehan defense continued to progress.
Most importantly, Destrehan remained undefeated, moving to 5-0 this season and 2-0 in District 7-5A. It’s been 34 games since the Wildcats walked off the field with a defeat in regular season action. Destrehan is the No. 3 ranked team in Class 5A in the latest poll released by the LSWA.
This week, the Wildcats will travel to Reserve to face East St. John in district action.
A perennial factor and rival of Destrehan and Hahnville — the three schools have been grouped into the same district for years — East St. John stumbled last season in coach Alden Foster’s first season with the team. ESJ went 2-8, those eight losses including a 62-27 loss at Destrehan.
But East St. John (2-3, 0-1) has seemingly been much improved this season. In 2015, it took ESJ until the ninth game of the season to earn its second win. This season, ESJ is 2-3, with losses to Ehret, Madison Prep and Thibodaux and wins over Shaw and H.L. Bourgeois.
“Coach Foster came in last year and has his program going in the right direction,” said Destrehan coach Stephen Robicheaux. “Unfortunately, he’s had to deal with injury at quarterback and that makes it tough. But those kids are playing real hard on defense. They’ve won a couple already and you can see this is a much different East St. John team than we faced a year ago. Coach Foster’s starting to make his mark on that team. They’ve got some really good athletes there.”
C.J. Turner is East St. John’s chief offensive weapon. The 6’2, 170 pound senior is a major vertical threat and redzone target who Robicheaux compared to Destrehan’s own sensational deep threat, Justin Jefferson. Turner finished last week’s game against Thibodaux with six receptions for 82 yards and three touchdowns.
“Turner’s their go-to guy. He can really go up and get it,” Robicheaux said. “He’s a heck of a receiver. If the ball is anywhere around him, he’ll catch it. He scares us a lot.”
Junior tailback Shelvin Keller was another player Robicheaux said his team must find a way to corral. But the primary danger for any team facing the Wildcats, Robicheaux believes, comes at the quarterback position. Former Destrehan quarterback Marquise Darensbourg transferred to ESJ last season and is the team’s primary starter, but injury concerns may keep him sidelined.
Robicheaux noted East St. John has deployed three different quarterbacks at times this season, and that DHS will prepare for them all.
“Marquise is a tough kid, so it would be no surprise if he can go,” Robicheaux said. “We’ll get ready for all of them. But no matter who is back there, we know they’ll play their game. They want to run with the quarterback, spread you out and create those openings.”
East St. John fell to Thibodaux last week, 38-28, in a game in which ESJ struggled to score for much of the night—the Tigers led by 26 with three minutes left in the game. Darensbourg completed 17 of 31 passes for 118 yards, a touchdown pass and two interceptions.
Last week, Destrehan’s top two rushers, Kristian Mosley and John Emery, racked up more than 400 yards between them. While Robicheaux’s Destrehan teams have long been known for their air raid offense and high-level passing game productivity, he is more than willing to grind opponents away via the rushing attack.
It certainly helps when the rushers habitually pop off big plays. Mosley and Emery have made long, explosive runs week after week this season.
“You’ve got to play to your strengths,” Robicheaux said. “(Offensive coordinator Greg Boyne) has done a phenomenal job with our players and tailoring the offense to what we do best. We’re always going to try and run the football. Against Terrebonne, we knew with their defensive look, cover zero, cover one, if we got into the second level, we’d just need to make one person miss. And there aren’t too many safeties who can run down Mosley. Our offensive line started everything for us and we did some really good things from there.”
Destrehan’s schedule shifts a bit over the next four games. The first five games of the season were heavy on home games, with four taking place at Wildcat Stadium. Three of the final four regular season games (Destrehan has an open date in Week 10) will be on the road. The Wildcats’ lone road game thus far came at Woodlawn-Baton Rouge, a 34-7 victory.
“Preparation wise, there’s no difference,” Robicheaux said. “We’ve got to get ready to play wherever the game will be. I think our kids know how to handle things on the road. We played well at Woodlawn. We played the jamboree at Lutcher and if not for a fumble we had a great opportunity to win there, too.”
The Destrehan defense stepped up its game against Terrebonne as well. The Tigers’ 17 point total was their lowest output of the season, with seven of those points coming with the game out of reach. The Wildcats had to replace nine of its 11 starters from last year’s team and returns through six games have been promising.
“The first half of the (Sept. 23) Hahnville game, we played tremendously well. In the second half, not as much,” Robicheaux said, noting Hahnville’s furious second-half comeback. “We challenged the defense to be better last week and they answered the bell. We left Terrebonne in a lot of third-and-long situations and kept ourselves in good shape.”
Destrehan trailed 3-0 early against Terrebonne in what was the Wildcats’ homecoming game Friday night, but the Tigers’ advantage didn’t last long as the Wildcats romped to a lopsided win.
Mosley’s three first-half touchdown runs — including two from 75 and 67 yards, respectively —helped spur Destrehan to a 34-10 halftime lead from which the Wildcats (5-0, 2-0) never looked back.
Mosley rushed for 272 yards on the night on just 12 carries, while John Emery added 140 yards on the ground.
J.R. Blood connected with Quinton Torbor for a 60-yard touchdown pass and with Justin Jefferson for another from 53 yards out.
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