MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / October 11, 1999

LUTCHER – Lutcher definitely had a different look from the previous week when it played St. Charles Catholic Friday night at the Dog Yard.The Bulldogs, which fell to Assumption, 31-6, last week, came out in gold jerseys against the Comets. The Bulldogs also changed their play on thefield, defeating the Comets, 28-0, in the District 9-3A opener for both teams.

Lutcher, ranked 10th in Class 3A going in, improved to 5-1 on the season.

St. Charles Catholic fell to 1-5.Damian Ursin led the Bulldogs with 98 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries. Jerron Wishom added 94 yards and a score on 17 attempts. ThomasRicks completed 6-of-15 passes for 89 yards and a touchdown and also ran eight times for 51 yards and a touchdown. The Bulldogs finished with337 yards in total offense, 248 yards coming on 49 carries. Lutcher had toovercome 13 penalties for 124 yards in the contest.

The Bulldog defense held the Comets to 14 yards in offense, minus 28 on the ground, and forced three turnovers. Jason Waguespack finished with 4completions in 11 attempts for 25 yards.

The game marked St. Charles Catholic coach Frank Monica’s return toLutcher but the Bulldogs quickly made sure it would not be a happy homecoming. A roughing the kicker call against the Comets kept theBulldogs’ opening possession alive after Lutcher was stopped at its 25- yard line. After regaining possession at the 40, Ursin went up the middle,bounced right and went for 19 yards to the Comet 32 on third-and-1. Onfourth-and-7 from the 29, Ricks found Chris Johnson on a fade pattern on the right sidelines. Johnson caught the ball over his shoulder and went in,making it 6-0 with 5:40 remaining in the first quarter after the missed extra point.

Lutcher took over its next possession at its 20 after a clipping call on the punt return. A holding call pushed the Lutcher back to the 11 but theBulldogs were able to pick it up on sweeps of 13 and 11 yards by Wishom and Ursin. The Bulldogs would take it to the Comets’ 32 by the end of thequarter on a 17-yard reception by Kenneth Johnson and a 14-yard keeper by Ricks. Ursin capped the drive on the fifth play of the second quarterwith a 4-yard touchdown run. Ricks then found Wishom for the two-pointconversion, increasing the lead to 14-0 with 9:51 left in the half.

St. Charles Catholic had its best chance to score in the half when DustinBraud recovered a Chris Johnson fumble on a punt return at the Lutcher 22-yard line. But on the first play after the turnover, the Cometsmishandled the pitch with Troy Chaubaud recovering for the Bulldogs at the 33. It would be the closest to the Lutcher goal line the Comets wouldget.

Mario Martin recovered another fumble at the Comets’ 41 with 1:55 left in the half. But the Bulldogs failed to capitalize with the Comets holding atthe 39. Bernard Riley intercepted Nick Monica on the Comets’ final play ofthe half.

Lutcher held the Comets to minus 13 yards in the first half while the Bulldogs rolled up 190 yards.

St. Charles Catholic crossed midfield on its second possession of thesecond half behind a 10-yard completion from Monica to Randy Madere and a 6-yard run by Monica. But Riley would hold Anthony Jacob for no gain onfourth-and-3 from the 47.

Lutcher took over and drove 53 yards in 10 plays despite fumbling twice and committing 22 yards in penalty. Runs of 17 and 8 by Wishom gave theBulldogs a first down at the Comet 25 yard line. A holding call and anunsportsmanlike penalty on the Lutcher sideline pushed the Bulldogs back to the 47. But Lutcher picked up the first down on a 5-yard run by Ursinand a 23-yard reception over the middle by Terry Millet to the Comet 19..Ricks took it in on a quarterback draw from 3 yards out four plays later.

T.J. Bourgeois hit the extra point to make it 21-0 with 10:06 remaining inthe game.

Lutcher went 48 yards in 8 plays on its next possession. Ursin and Wishomdid all the damage of the ground with Ursin having runs of 8 and 6 yards and Wishom 11, 8 and 6. Wishom took in from 11 yards out, catching thecorner of the end zone on a sweep to the right. Bourgeois’ extra pointincreased the lead to 28-0 with 4:28 remaining.

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