MATT ALLEMAN / L’Observateur / October 26, 1998

DESTREHAN – For the third straight Friday night the Destrehan Fighting Wildcats won a game by less than nine points. Nevertheless, a win is awin, as the Wildcats defeated the South Lafourche Tarpons Friday night at Wildcat Stadium, 21-13.

This game, as was the case last week versus East St. John, would bedecided late in the fourth quarter by Destrehan’s “late strike” offense.

This win moves Destrehan to 6-1 on the year (5-0 in district play). SouthLafourche falls to 3-4 on the year (2-3 in district).

The game did not start out looking good for the Wildcats as the Tarpons got the first score. South Lafourche played a game of “smash mouth”football all through the first half, piling up 123 yards of total offense in the first half, all of it coming on running plays.

The Tarpon rushing attack was led by senior tailback Vic King who had 25 carries for 137 yards and two touchdowns.

King’s first touchdown, the first of the game, came on a 5-yard run with 4:24 left in the first quarter. Emile Daigle made the extra point and thefirst half score 7-0.

In the first half, the Tarpon defense held the Wildcats to a dismal 27 yards of total offense, all rushing, and 24 of that came on one play.

Destrehan’s defense was led by the play of linebacker Jamall Johnson who finished with 10 tackles.

But its a good thing for Destrehan that they played the second half as the offense woke up adding 100 more yards rushing and 104 yards passing after intermission, finishing with 231 yards total offense.

“They did a great job driving down the field on us and we turned around offensively and our kids were able to respond,” Destrehan head coach Scott Martin said about his defense. “Twenty-one fourth quarter pointsagainst a good football team. I’m real proud of them.”The wake up call did not come until the fourth quarter but the Wildcats answered it nicely. Senior quarterback Wendell Smith stepped up his gamelate, for the second week in a row as he hit Danny Krieger on a 12-yard touchdown pass. Ricky Rodriguez made the point after tying the score at 7.The Tarpons answered back six plays later as Vic King ran his second touchdown, a 3-yard run. The point after was missed, making the score13-7.

On the very next possesion Wendell Smith connected with Krieger on a 36- yard pass for their second touchdown. Rodriguez made the extra point,making the score 14-13 with 5:38 left to play.

It was one more chance for the Tarpons as they would shy away from their running game at a crucial time in the game. On fourth down and four yardsto go, South Lafourche coaches called only their fourth pass of the night with 3:13 left in the game with the pass falling incomplete.

The final Wildcat score came on the next drive, led by running back Traun Smith. Smith finished the game with 86 yards on 15 carries, all in thesecond half. The touchdown was a successful naked bootleg as WendellSmith ran into the end zone from 5 yards out with :11 left to play.

Destrehan travels to Terrebonne next Friday while South Lafourche hosts Hahnville.

Return To Sports Stories

Copyright © 1998, Wick Communications, Inc.

Internet services provided by NeoSoft.

Best viewed with 3.0 or higher