By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

Lutcher’s first regular season game as a member of Class 4A was commemorated with a matchup against a team expected to be a 5A contender – Dutchtown.

A close game for three quarters was busted open in the fourth when Lutcher scored twice in less than three minutes, propelling the Bulldogs to a 33-14 victory in Geismar.

Lutcher’s Austin Roussel returned a Griffins fumble 39 yards for a score to make it 27-14 with 10:07 left in the game. Gavin Webster would find Jarvis Landry for a 22-yard score at the 7:30 mark to make it 33-17.

Webster finished with three total touchdowns – two rushing – and 262 total yards. He rushed for 116 yards and two scores, and he completed 17-of-25 passes for 146 yards.

Landry caught seven passes for 90 yards, while Trevor Englade helped the Bulldogs (1-0) along with five catches for 41 yards.

Dutchtown’s Effrem Reed did all he could to keep the Griffins afloat, however. He rushed for 119 yards and a score on 14 carries, and added a 52-yard reception.

Anthony Milazzo led the LHS defense with 10 tackles. Daniel Cockburn added nine.

Dutchtown’s Leon Blouin broke a scoreless tie with 2:20 left in the first quarter with a 2-yard touchdown run.

In the second quarter, Webster ran for a pair of scores (five and nine yards) to swing the lead in Lutcher’s favor. Webster’s two-point pass to Landry made it 14-7 with 41 seconds left in the first half.

That score stood into the third quarter, when the teams traded touchdowns within 20 seconds of one another – first, Landry’s 3-yard scoring run at the 2:22 mark, then Reed’s 77 yard jaunt with 2:02 left in the quarter, leaving the score 20-14.

But Dutchtown (0-1) lost three fumbles in the game, and Roussel’s recovery would prove costly to the Griffins.

Lutcher was 9-for-17 on third downs, Dutchtown was 0-for-9. The Bulldogs did not turn the ball over in the game.