While not quite in the way it wanted, Destrehan extended its unbeaten match streak to nine in a row as it battled District 7-I foe Terrebonne to a 2-2 tie at Wildcat Stadium Tuesday night.
Bryan Reyes and Donald Thomas each scored goals for the Wildcats, while Gianluca Aguilar and Baylen Bardeleben each scored for Terrebonne.
Reyes struck first in the game, firing a ball high into the net to give Destrehan a 1-0 lead with 25 minutes left in the first half.
But Terrebonne had chances to tie things up – Destrehan was called for a trio of infractions in the first half that led to free kicks, the last of which was in the box, giving Aguilar a close range, high-percentage chance with 2:50 left in the first half. He delivered and tied things up 1-1, which would be the score at half.
A near goal by Destrehan’s Misael Navarro went just wide of the net. But 20 minutes into the second half, Thomas found an opening and nailed a go-ahead kick for DHS, which took a 2-1 lead.
“Some simple mistakes in the beginning, not being in the right place in the right time. But as soon as I got into a rhythm and started listening to my coach more, the opportunities were there and you just have to put that one away,” Thomas said.
Destrehan seemed in control but then Terrebonne capitalized on a mistake near goal and Bardeleben scored from close range to tie things up with 13 minutes left.
“It was a mistake,” Santamaria said. “The ball came down the line. We thought it was a foul. They made a quick cross … they scored on the rebound,” Santamaria said. “Can’t lose the ball, can’t leave it hanging. We didn’t get to the rebound early enough, and they took advantage.”
Neither team was able to break the tie. Destrehan’s Samuel Munoz got the ball down the sideline with time waning and attempted to cross the ball to the middle, but the Tigers broke it up to deny a potential shot.
Destrehan moved to 10-4-4 on the season, and 1-0-1 in district play.
Starting with a Dec. 18 win over Ponchatoula by a score of 3-2, Destrehan hasn’t lost a match since, winning seven in a row before tying the past two matches (including a 1-1 finish against East Ascension).
Destrehan already has its most wins in a season since 2020, when DHS won 15 – including its last postseason victory, a 5-2 win at home over East Ascension.
The Wildcats hope to earn a home playoff game this season as well, which head coach Jhovanny Santamaria said is a goal for his team.
“We’ve improved a lot, winning more games. But we’re coming up short in some important games, and we’ve got to learn from it,” said Destrehan’s Julio Von Buren, in the midst of a very strong season. “Overall, we already have more wins than last year though. It’s a step forward. I think we play more as a team, and we’re playing better because of that.”
Said Thomas, “It’s a big improvement from last year. Everyone’s been stepping up … we’ve improved in multiple aspects of the game, but we still have a lot of things to work on.”
Santamaria said there are things to clean up from Tuesday’s game, and that the Wildcats felt they let one get away.
But on the whole, there is a lot of excitement around the program as Destrehan is in the midst of its best season since 2020.
“We’re working well as a team. We like to control the tempo, minimize mistakes … but we create a lot of opportunities,” said Santamaria. “We’re an attacking team, we try to find our midfielders and our forwards. We’ve got a good defense and I think we’ve got a good chemistry this season.
“Our goal is to win district this year. We fell short last year. This year we’re trying to move this in the right direction. We’ve won one and tied one so far in district, we’ve got a few left to play, and we’re gonna take it one at a time.”
