By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

BOUTTE – Heading into last Friday night’s game in Hahnville, Head Coach Lou Valdin knew that 3A Lutcher wasn’t going to roll over for the 5A Tigers last Friday. And going into halftime ahead on the scoreboard but behind in most statistical categories, Valdin could see that he was in a dogfight.

So the Hahnville defense made the Bulldogs turn over in a more figurative sense, forcing three fumbles and taking in a pair of interceptions en route to a 21-6 victory.

&#8220You got to give [Lutcher] credit in this one,” Valdin said in post-game comments. &#8220They might have been the best team that we’ve played so far this year. And we knew we were in for a good one. Any time you get two River Parish teams on the field together, you know it’s going to be good, hard-nosed football. And this one was a heavyweight bout.”

The first half was, in fact, a blow-for-blow contest where Lutcher was often more effective overall. Six first half LHS possessions had the Bulldogs with an effective offense, but a pair of turnovers well into Tiger territory left Lutcher empty-handed. Hahnville, meanwhile, protected a 7-0 lead through the first two quarters after a 72-yard, game-opening drive, which was capped when Early James connected with Laron Byrd game for a 25-yard touchdown.

The Tigers picked it up in the second half, getting 161 of their 234 yards rushing. Most of that came from hand-offs to Jordan Stephany who accumulated 129 yards on 18 tough carries and a second-half touchdown. That came after a Lutcher fumble where Hahnville took over and Stephany took off through the middle of the line for a 33-yarder and a 14-0 lead. HHS’s final score followed another Lutcher turnover where the Tigers got the ball down the three-yard line where James brought it into the end zone with a quarterback keeper.

With 9:37 left in the game, the LHS squad found some momentum with a fumble recovery of their own which set up a 65-yard drive that culminated in a one-yard Bulldog TD rush by Rolando Melancon. The conversion attempt was no good.

Lutcher would recover an onside kick following the score, but their drive stalled just inside the Hahnville 20-yard line and the Tigers killed the clock for the 21-6 win.

James finished with 94 yards passing and a touchdown through the air, which just eeked by his 93 yards rushing and a touchdown from the ground for the Tigers.

Gauthier was 17-of-27 for the Bulldogs for 170 yards but was intercepted twice.

The loss is the Bulldog’s first of the season for a 3-1 record through four weeks of play. Hahnville remains undefeated heading into an open week on their schedule.