Destrehan uses strong second half to take down Central Lafourche

After a few first half miscues, Destrehan held a slim margin over Central Lafourche at the midway point.

Whatever head coach Stephen Robicheaux said to the Wildcats at halftime, it certainly worked.

The Wildcats got the ball moving on offense in the second half and their defense did the job all night as Destrehan pulled away to earn a 38-15 victory over the Trojans Friday night.

Destrehan (6-3, 3-2) led 21-8 at the half, but had to lean on their defense just for that. The Wildcats had two consecutive bad snaps in the first half, the second of which on a 4^th down punt attempt that gave the ball to the Trojans on their own 28. That lead to Ashtein Duncan’s 4^th down 20 yard touchdown pass to Titan Verdin in double coverage to make it 8-7 Central Lafourche.

Kyle Edwards retook the lead on a 19 yard scoring run in the first quarter, 14-8, and Razan Keller’s 3 yard touchdown run put the score at 21-8, but Destrehan’s Damarius Jackson was intercepted just before halftime to prevent the Wildcats from increasing the score even further.

After the second half whistle blew, it was all Destrehan.

Edwards scored on a 2 yard touchdown on the first Wildcat possession of the second half to increase the lead to 28-8.

Following a blocked punt by Jermaine Stewart, the Wildcats ended up settling for a 28 yard Will Bryant field goal in the third to make it 31-8.

Edwards scored his 3^rd touchdown of the night on a 5 yard score after he bounced off of a few defenders to make it 38-8. Edwards finished the game with 76 yards on 16 carries and the three scores.

The final score from Central Lafourche came with just over 5 minutes remaining when Deon Jenkins punched the ball in from 5 yards out, but it was far too late by then.

Destrehan got strong performances on the evening from Jackson and receiver Quincy Brown. Jackson completed 12 of 14 passes for 155 yards 1 touchdown and one interception while Brown finished with 7 catches for 65 yards and the score. That score came on a 19 yard pass on the first possession of the game for Destrehan.

On defense, the Wildcats did work on the evening, picking up 2 sacks, a blocked punt, held the Trojans to 140 yards of total offense before the final two possessions. Jaden Harding also had 2 interceptions called back because of penalties.

“I thought our kids played well,” said Robicheaux. “(Central Lafourche is) a very good football team. For us to come in and hold them to 15 points was really good and Quincy had a really good game.”

The Trojans (5-4, 1-3) did all they could on the defensive side of the ball in holding Edwards to just 35 yards at halftime. The offense wasn’t able to match that grit, however, as they had just 4 first downs in the game until the last two possessions.

“Our defense played extremely well early we just couldn’t get anything going on offense,” said head coach Keith Manard. “I thought Destrehan did a great job of taking away our weapons. It was just one of those games where we couldn’t get going.”