Destrehan players slowly walked off the field, the emotion surrounding them thick.
Their season was over.
No. 14 Ouachita Parish upset No. 3 Destrehan 21-19 at Wildcat Stadium to advance to the Class 5A non-select state quarterfinals, the Lions avenging their own season-ending playoff loss to Destrehan a year ago.
Ouachita (8-4) stayed on schedule offensively; defensively, the Lions made Destrehan work the ball downfield and limited explosive plays for most of the night.
But special teams was a major X-factor for Ouachita, which got its first touchdown of the night on a Wydell Clark Jr. Punt return of 50 yards and blocked a field goal attempt. Destrehan contributed to that divide with some miscues of its own, including a fumbled snap on an extra point attempt and a missed field goal attempt.
“It’s never comes down to one thing. It’s usually a combination of things … I give Ouachita credit for coming down and making a few more plays than we did. That punt return was huge,” said Destrehan head coach Marcus Scott. “We weren’t able to stay on schedule a lot of times (offensively). When that happens, you’re behind the chains … it’s a credit to (Ouachita).”
Destrehan’s back was against the wall in the fourth quarter when the Lions’ Macario Dade Jr burst through the line for a 15-yard touchdown with 9:10 left to play, pushing his team ahead 21-12.
That was just the beginning of a somewhat wild fourth quarter that didn’t light up the scoreboard, but saw some big momentum shifts.
One of those came on the ensuing Destrehan drive. The Wildcats needed to strike fast to keep the season alive. It looked like that was in the cards after a long Jabari Mack run from the Wildcat formation set Destrehan up in the redzone. But Ouachita stripped the ball loose and recovered with just over eight minutes left.
The Wildcats defense got the stop it needed, though, and Destrehan took over needing a big play. On a night Ouachita largely bottled up Destrehan’s big play rushing attack, Malachi Dabney got loose when DHS needed him to, rushing from a heavy formation and taking it 55 yards to paydirt to make it 21-19 with 5:43 left.
DHS had new life and the defense played with that kind of energy, first stopping Ouachita in the backfield and then forcing an incompletion. An Ouachita penalty set up 3rd and 17, and Destrehan made the stop after an 8-yard gain, forcing a punt.
On the Lions stopped Destrehan for a loss of two on a third down play, but that play was more significant than the yardage loss – Mack, Destrehan’s leading receiver and LSU commitment, was shaken up on the play and was forced to miss the ensuing fourth down play by rule.
On 4th and 6, Jackson Fields dropped back – his initial looks were covered and he evaded the rush to buy time. But his pass to Au’Shai Smith on fourth down fell incomplete, and Ouachita took over on downs with 2:26 left.
Destrehan had two time outs left, but a Montrell Conner keeper followed by a Dade rush for the first down effectively ended the game, and OPHS took knees from there.
Dabney scored Destrehan’s first points of the night to make it 7-6, rushing in from the Wildcat formation from 7 yards out. That score held through halftime.
Ouachita extended the lead to 14-6 on a red zone pass from Conner to Seneca Battle.
Destrehan struck back after converting a big third and long, Fields buying time to find D.J. Adams for the first down. Destrehan made it count soon after on a 60-yard touchdown run by Mack to make it 14-12, but the 2-point conversion try was stopped.
Scott said it was a difficult loss to take in large part because this Destrehan team’s senior class epitomized what it means to be part of the Wildcats’ program.
“We’re very proud of the seniors for all of the hard work and effort that they put in for four years into the program,” Scott said. “And I thank those guys for their contributions to Destrehan football. They won an awful lot of games. Our kids are very upset because this is the first time we haven’t played to at least the third round. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but give credit to Ouachita. They did the things necessary to win the ball game tonight.”
Between Destrehan’s rushing prowess, an experienced quarterback and proficient weapons in the passing game, few teams have been able to slow the Wildcats. For Ouachita, defensive tackle Dylan Berymon played a massive role in evening those odds. The 6’3, 300-plus pound tackle is a top recruit nationally, and his presence in the middle of the Lions’ defense gave a very fast group of players around him freedom to roam.
“(Dabney and Mack) are great players. Our team speed I think is a neutralizer, they fly around. And Dylan Berymon, that makes it difficult for anyone,” said Ouachita head coach Benjy Lewis.
Said Scott, “You don’t see kids like (Berymon) very often. We were able to see Richard (Anderson) when we played Karr in the spring. But you don’t come across guys that powerful, who can move that well in high school very often … they have a lot of team speed, and their guys up front set the tone. We moved the ball, but we also did some things on our end that kind of hurt our progress.”
Destrehan (8-3) entered the game on a 7-game winning streak.
Ouachita Parish advances to face No. 6 Parkway in the quarterfinal round.
