Michael Kiral / L’Observateur / May 27, 1998

LUTCHER – The Lutcher Bulldogs worked on the success they had at the end of their 1997 season as they concluded spring practice last week.

Lutcher won seven of its final eight regular season games in 1997 to place second in District 10-3A.

Because of the success of its baseball, softball, track, golf and tennis teams, the Bulldogs were limited in the amount of time they had to work out. Lutcher got in 10 days of practice with only six in full pads, thefewest coach Tim Detillier said he has ever had.

“We have a long way to go,” Detillier said. “What we accomplished in ashort amount of time I was pleased with but we have a lot of unanswered questions. In August, I hope to answer some of those questions.”Injuries and inelgibility also cut down on the number of players participating. One positive to come out of that, however, is that someplayers got to see more playing time than they normally would.

The Bulldogs are able to cope better with the limited numbers this year than they would have been able to a year ago because they have more experience. That experienced helped in the Bulldogs’ spring game againstPonchatoula, a game that the team played without seven projected starters.

“We played very well,” Detillier said. “We did better than we ever hopedto do.”One of the areas of concern heading into the fall is the quarterback situation. Last year’s starter, Namatala Nassar, graduated and Detillersaid their are four or five guys competing to replace him. One of thosemissed the spring game due to an illness and another missed most of spring with an injury.

Detillier said 90-plus players came out to participate and that depth will be team strength. Another strength will be the experience that the teamwill bring into the season.

The season begins at home against long-time rival East St. John. TheBulldogs host Holy Cross before playing Bishop Sullivan. Another homegame follows against Port Allen before the Bulldogs travel to Assumption.

Lutcher returns home to play Vandebilt Catholic before opening District 10-3A play at St. James. E.D. White comes to town before the Bulldogstravel to Donaldsonville to play the Tigers. The season closes with a homegame against Plaquemine.

Return To News Stories