by George Mahl Sports Editor

West St. John, Hahnville and Lutcher head to

the Dome

I was sitting in the press box at West St. John last Friday night when I heard a couple of scores involving River Parish teams. Lutcher, on the road at Amite, was trailing 13-0 at halftime. On the other hand, Hahnville, at home against Carencro, was trailing 14-0 in the second quarter.

A man sitting next to me said “Lutcher has had such a good year, but they just ran into a better team tonight.” My response to the man was “Lutcher has got them right where they want them.”

Having seen the Bulldogs trail in a couple of previous playoff games, I knew that a 13-0 deficit was by no means an insurmountable lead.

Later in the game, while West St. John was well on their way to the 2A championship game, I heard that Hahnville tied up the game with Carencro at 21-21. By the way, Carencro was the number one seed in 5A heading into this game.

The next score I received was a 35-21 Hahnville lead. I am thinking to myself what an amazing turn of events.

It gets better. Lutcher fought back in the second half to take a 20-13 lead with about two minutes to play.

“Amite has just scored and they are going for two (two-point conversion) and the win” was what someone in the press box just told me.

The press box got silent quickly when Amite had lined up to go for two. It was like we had totally forgotten about the game in front of us.

“Amite has taken a timeout” he told us. Meanwhile, the Hahnville Tigers had control of the game with under two minutes to play. It looked as if at least two River Parish teams would be headed to the dome for the championship. All that was left was finding out whether Lutcher could pull off the hat trick.

“They stopped them (Amite) !”

I was almost in disbelief at what had happened. After the Bulldogs stopped the two-point conversion and preserved the victory, the PA announcer announced the score, which caused a thunderous ovation from the WSJ supporters. He then announced Hahnville had defeated Carencro. Another loud cheer broke out in the stands and among the players and coaches. His closing words were music to my and everyone else’s ears. “Ladies and Gentlemen, all three River Parish teams have made it to the Superdome.”

When it was all said and done, Hahnville, Lutcher and West St. John realized they were seven days away from the ultimate prize.

Championship Games

5A

Hahnville Tigers

vs

Evangel

3A

Lutcher Bulldogs

vs

Notre Dame

2A

West St. John Rams

vs

Sterlington