By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

To use a baseball analogy for a football contest, Destrehan didn’t have its best fastball on Friday night as it faced Higgins.

And that might be the scary part for prospective opponents.

The Wildcats turned the ball over four times and didn’t crack 100 yards rushing as a team. But it did enough to best visiting Higgins, taking a 20-0 win over the Hurricanes.

Destrehan (3-0), currently the No. 3 ranked team in Class 5A, held Higgins (2-1) to 167 total yards, and more importantly, held the Hurricanes out of the endzone. It also forced two Higgins turnovers, each on fumbles.

“Obviously, the turnovers were a big problem,” said Destrehan coach Stephen Robicheaux. “On the flip side, I’m excited to see our defense force some turnovers of their own. It was bend, but don’t break.

“At the same time, we can’t continue to make the same mistakes offensively if we expect to win.”

The defending Class 5A champion Wildcats jumped ahead on the first play of the game, when Wynrick Smothers found Brandon Armstrong for a 65-yard touchdown to put the Wildcats ahead 7-0. Ryan Rome added a 42-yard field goal to make it 10-0 at halftime.

Myron Smith’s 11-yard touchdown run in the third quarter gave Destrehan a 17-0 lead. Rome capped off the scoring in the fourth, booting a 33-yard field goal.

Higgins was held to 0 passing yards. Once Destrehan got ahead, it was very much to the Wildcats’ advantage.

“They didn’t throw the ball very well, and we kept extra guys in the box at all times,” said Robicheaux. “We wanted to be physical with them. We were fortunate to get ahead, and at that point they couldn’t throw it around.”

It was a good test for Destrehan, which relies on its offensive and defensive lines to make things go – those are areas where the big, physical Hurricanes are also known to excel.

At the same time, Robicheaux says that the game also showed some potential cracks in the armor of a team that hasn’t lost a game since 2006.

“I think this game opened some eyes,” Robicheaux said. “We’ve got a good team, but Higgins showed that we’re not invincible.”