MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / September 27, 2000

DESTREHAN – With offensive weapons on both teams, Destrehan and East St. John face a tall task of trying to stop each other when they meetFriday at 7:30 p.m. in Destrehan.But the two teams face an even tougher task – trying to top last year’s game.

All that happened in 1999 when the two teams met at East St. John’s JoeKeller Stadium was a five overtime thriller that saw the teams combine to score 107 points and 15 touchdowns. Ivan Mashia passed for fourtouchdowns and Deron Love scored three more on the ground for Destrehan.

East St. John’s Floyd Smith passed for two touchdowns and ran for twomore. Chuckie Burl added another three scores running the ball. Destrehan finally pulled out a 57-50 victory when Mashia found Allan Decker on a touchdown pass and Smith was sacked on fourth down on the ensuing possession. The teams had traded touchdowns on the previous fourovertime sessions.

While many of the stars that played in that game have moved on, both teams still possess a number of weapons on offense. Destrehan enters thegame with a 1-0 record in District 7-5A and a 4-0 record overall. East St.John is 0-1 in district and 2-2 overall.

Darwin Pittman completed 9-of-26 passes for 160 yards in East St. John’s23-10 loss to Hahnville last Friday. Raydel Patterson had four catches for65 yards. Burl led the rushing attack with 76 yards on 25 carries.Pittman now has completed 33-of-72 passes for 544 yards and two touchdowns on the season. Patterson has been the go-to receiver with 14catches for 241 yards and three touchdowns.

East St. John jumped out to a 10-7 halftime lead over the Tigers Fridaynight behind a 1-yard touchdown run by Pittman and a 25-yard field goal by Chance Blank. But three second half turnovers led to 10 points for theTigers.

For Destrehan, Randy Roth completed 14-of-24 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns in the Wildcats’ 27-3 victory at Thibodaux. Bothtouchdown passes were to Fred Smith from 31 and 54 yards out. DechadWard added a 1-yard touchdown run and ran for 60 yards. The Wildcats’last score came on a 30-yard fumble return by John Moore in the fourth quarter. Thibodaux’s only score came on a 37-yard field goal by JeremyNavarre.

“It’s always good to go down there and win,” Destrehan head coach Stephen Robichaux said. “To start district out in a good way with a win. Ithought we played sloppy at times but we did what we had to do. We madethe big plays and held on at the end to win the ballgame.

Roth enters Friday’s game as one of the top quarterbacks in the metro area with 835 yards and nine touchdowns passing. Smith has caught 14 passesfor 340 yards and six touchdowns. Ward has ran for over 200 yards andscored seven touchdowns.

“We’re doing a good job of spreading out the ball,” Robichaux said. “Dechadis doing a good job of running the ball and Randy is doing a good job of throwing to a lot of different receivers.”Destrehan has won four straight in the series and leads it 26-22. East St.John’s last victory came in 1995, 13-12. Excluding a 63-14 by Destrehanin 1997, the series has been close with three of the five decided by less than two points.

“It’s two of the top teams in district,” Robichaux said. “They have a lot ofweapons and so do we. The team that makes the fewest mistakes andcontrols the line of scrimmage is going to win the ballgame.”Next week, East St. John hosts Thibodaux while Destrehan travels toCentral Lafourche in District 7-5A play.

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