Sports Editor

LUTCHER – The Bulldogs needed just the first quarter of play last Friday night to outscore Baker’s 26 points in their Class 3A quarter-finals game. But that doesn’t mean that Lutcher fans didn’t get a little nervous in the fourth quarter before their 40-26 win.

&#8220It was a heck of a high school football game,” said Lutcher head coach Tim Detillier in post-game comments. &#8220After we got up in the first quarter there, we had lots of injuries. Baker got back in it, but we got ourselves together and finished well I can‘t say enough about this staff and this team.”

After taking a 27-0 lead before the second quarter even got started, the Bulldogs allowed 18 unanswered points before scoring again for a 33-18 advantage. Baker closed the gap to eight points with a touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, but Khymest Williams scored his second touchdown of the night on a 36-yard run to secure the victory.

The onslaught started for the Bulldogs on their first drive when they marched from mid-field down to inside the ten yard line where quarterback Blaine Gauthier connected with Brodrick Albert for a 7-0 lead. They soon padded that when Jarron Jackson recovered a fumble at the Baker 10-yard line. From there, Lutcher moved inside the five yard line to set up Williams first TD run.

Before the quarter was finished, running back Rashad Webster and Davonne Lumar added touchdowns and the Bulldogs went into the second quarter with a commanding 27 point lead.

It wasn’t until the fourth quarter when the Lutcher squad came out of their funk when the Bulldogs got the ball down to the eight yard line where Gauthier threw a TD pass to Tyrus Harris, padding their lead. Williams scored the final points of the game with just more than two and a half minutes left in the game.

By looking at the stat sheet for this game, it would be hard to see that Lutcher gave a dominant performance. Baker outgained the Bulldogs 315 to 233 and both teams had 17 first downs. But the Bulldog defense forced and recovered two fumbles and forced the Lions to punt six times.

LHS advances with the win, to face the Notre Dame Pioneers this Friday in a road game. The Pioneers are 12-1 on the season with their only loss coming to an undefeated Crowley team.

&#8220I wish we were playing somebody else,” said Detillier of his next opponent. &#8220[Coach Lewis Cook] is one of my best friends. One of us will be in the Dome, so that’s what we’ll have to play for. But you know it will be a good game. We could get together and just play tiddlywinks and it’d be a good game.”