By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

The last time Hahnville and Dutchtown faced off, it was a tale of two halves, with each team dominant in one.

On Friday, however, Dutchtown would own both.

The No. 13 seeded Griffins led 21-0 at halftime and wouldn’t let up, securing a 35-7 win at Dutchtown in a Class 5A bi-district playoff game.

Dutchtown will travel to No. 4 Barbe on Friday night.

Unlike the previous meeting between the District 5-5A foes on Oct. 24, where Hahnville led 35-7 before having to pull out a 49-48 victory in overtime, Dutchtown led this one from start to finish.

“Last time, we jumped all over them early. We blocked two punts, we forced turnovers, and played on a short field,” said Hahnville Coach Lou Valdin. “This time, we turned it over twice and we fell behind.”

The problem then became two-fold for Hahnville (6-4). The early deficit took the team’s top offensive weapons, running backs Alfred Blue and Jai Steib, effectively out of the game plan.

Worse still, it allowed Dutchtown (8-2) to do what it does best: hand off to running backs Eddie Lacy and Kelvin York, who combined for 276 of the Griffins’ 344 rushing yards. York scored three touchdowns and rushed for 183 yards on 13 carries. Lacy added 93 yards and one score.

“That’s when they can just burn up clock,” says Valdin. “They limit your possessions, and they wore our defense down.”

The result was a poor offensive showing by the Tigers. Hahnville gained only 125 total yards, and quarterback Guiseppe Crovetto was intercepted twice. He completed 5-of-23 passes for 78 yards and a score.

Dutchtown first took the lead with 7:31 left in the second quarter, when York capped a 10-play drive with a 25-yard touchdown run to make it 6-0.

Not three minutes later, Lacy joined the fun, scoring on a 26-yard run that put the team up 12-0. A successful two-point try made it 14-0 with less than five minutes remaining in the half.

York’s 3-yard scoring run put the bow on a first half that, compared to the last first half clash between the two teams, was like Christmas in November for Dutchtown.

After York’s 35-yard run early in the third quarter made it 28-0, Hahnville got on the board for the first time via a Crovetto to Jared Harrell touchdown pass that made it 28-7.

But that was as close as Hahnville would get.

Valdin said that Dutchtown seemed more prepared for the sudden death aspect of the playoffs.

“When I told them it was time to pick up equipment, some of them didn’t seem to understand that the season is over,” Valdin said. “You can talk about it all you want, but until you’ve been through it, you just don’t understand that its lose and go home.

“Dutchtown was bigger, more physical, they’d been there before, and it was in their house with the revenge factor,” said Valdin. “They had it all going for them.”