Destrehan cements its crown, finishes 15-0 with 41-21 win over defending champ Acadiana

By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

Many teams fall due to the pressure of great expectations. But Destrehan didn’t – they didn’t fall once.

They didn’t fall during a brutal District 6-5A schedule. They didn’t fall during a playoff run that saw them win each game by three scores or more. And they didn’t lose at the end, either.

The Wildcats put the finishing touches on an undefeated, 15-0 season on Saturday night, and they did it in the way every player ands coach dreams of: by unseating the champion.

The Wildcats defeated defending champion Acadiana, 41-21, to earn the right to hoist the Class 5A trophy in the Superdome.

“I just can’t believe it. I still can’t believe it,” said Destrehan reciever Damaris Johnson. “I’m so happy.”

Johnson earned the game’s Outstanding Player award in a rather unconventional way – he caught four passes for 44 yards, but ran for 94 yards on five carries and scored two touchdowns on end arounds.

“I don’t know what to say. I’m a wide receiver but I scored two rushing touchdowns,” said Johnson.

Jordan Jefferson wasn’t too shabby himself. The Destrehan quarterback and LSU commitment was 10-13 for 220 yards and two scores, while adding 34 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

“This is a very special group,” said Destrehan Coach Stephen Robicheaux. “They came in working hard, continued to work hard without a lot of flash. This is the exciting time.”

Simply put, Acadiana’s (11-4) defense was overmatched by the incredible speed of the Wildcats offense.

Johnson took a lateral from Jefferson on the third play of the game and gained 46 yards. Jefferson would score on a quarterback sneak with 8:45 remaining in the first quarter to put his team ahead 6-0. Ryan Rome’s extra point attempt was blocked

But Acadiana’s first possession could not have gone any better for the Wreckin’ Rams. It held the ball for 9:21 and scored after a 16-play, 70 yard drive, capped by a John Dean 1-yard run with 11:24 left in the second quarter. Acadiana led 7-6.

Destrehan missed three opportunities to end the drive – two offsides penalties on a pair of fourth-and-fives, and a dropped potential interception that was subsequently caught for an Acadiana gain.

“I wrote on the board, one interception dropped, three offsides penalties. We cannot afford to aid a good football team.”

Back came the Wildcats, who led 14-7 after a 12-yard Johnson end-around. Jefferson found Molton for the two-point conversion.

Acadiana then briefly lost its starting quarterback. Jonathan Morvant was sacked by Jerico Nelson, and forced from the game with a shoulder injury.

It forced Acadiana to punt out of its own endzone. Destrehan took over at midfield. A 19-yard end-around by Johnson again set the Wildcats up, and this time it was Nelson who scored from 10-yards away, making it 20-7 with 3:33 left in the half.

Nelson played both ways Saturday, after being used primarily at tailback for the first 14 weeks of the year.

“We were saving Jerico to play both ways, the farther we got along,” said Robicheaux. “He’s going to play safety in college. He’s a special guy who hasn’t played in his last game.”

Backup quarterback Louis Hollier kept Acadiana in it, when his 55-yard touchdown pass to Desmond Sam made it 20-14 with 1:44 left in the half.

But Destrehan fired back in a way they’ve been known for all year. Jefferson launched a rocket deep to fellow LSU commitment Tim Molton, who outleapt his falling defender, and jaunted into the endzone for an 80-yard score. It made it 28-14 after a Jefferson two-point run.

“They were playing a cover two, and to get a big play like that against it like that really made a statement,” Robicheaux said.

Morvant returned in the second half, and he led his team to a touchdown on its opening drive to pull his team within seven, 28-21. Acadiana then forced Destrehan to punt for the first time in the game on a three-and-out, and seemed to have stolen the momentum.

It was short-lived. The punt bounced off the leg of an Acadiana player, and Destrehan’s Brian Blackwell recovered at the AHS 37. Jefferson found Brandon Armstrong soon after for a 33-yard score and a 35-21 lead.

“That was huge for us,” Robicheaux said. “It let us stay two scores ahead.”

On Destrehan’s next possession, it applied the knockout blow – fittingly, via a 16-yard reverse by Johnson for a score.