By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

Destrehan entered Friday night’s game at St. Amant knowing it needed a win to qualify for the Class 5A playoffs. With a little less than seven minutes remaining, those prospects seemed bleak.

But the Wildcats weren’t ready to see their season end. Destrehan rallied from a 9-point deficit to extend its season, taking a 34-33 victory away from the “Gator Pit”.

“I’m so proud of my kids. They could have easily put it in the tank down nine,” said Destrehan coach Stephen Robicheaux. “It’s a testament to their will to make the playoffs.”

Henry Lenox’s 80-yard touchdown run and Andrew Wyatt’s 24-yard field goal pushed the Wildcats ahead of the Gators for good.

Lenox’s scoring run came almost immediately after Taylor Jones put St. Amant ahead by nine via a 4-yard touchdown run – the smoke had not yet even cleared from the cannon shot that fired after the Gator score.

“It was a crazy looking thing. It was like he ran down the sideline and came out of the smoke,” said Robicheaux. “We’ve been looking for that from him all season long. He exploded down the sideline.”

Wyatt’s field goal almost didn’t come to be as St. Amant (5-5, 0-5) partially blocked it. But it sailed through the inside of the upright nonetheless.

“Right before the kick, I told one of my assistants that we’d won a game against them a couple of years ago by blocking a kick, You don’t want to see it here. And sure enough, they got a hand on it,” Robicheaux said. “But fortunately for us, Andrew got enough on it to get it through.”

St. Amant took 7-0 lead early after a Tyler Guillory 33-yard touchdown pass to Shaft Graves.

Destrehan (5-5, 3-2) struck back on the strength of a 27-yard Wyatt field goal to make it 7-3 after a quarter.

The Wildcats took a brief 9-7 lead on Dunn’s 9-yard scoring toss to Eric Johnson, while a two-point conversion attempt was no good.

St. Amant immediately answered via a Daniel St. Pierre 9-yard score to make it 14-9. It would extend the lead to eight on a 35-yard Manton field goal.

Destrehan tied the game at 17 before halftime, though, on Rickey Jefferson’s 29-yard touchdown off of another Dunn pass.

The Wildcats went ahead 24-17 in the third quarter on Johnson’s second score of the night, coming on a 21-yard pass from Dunn.

But a chance to perhaps put the game out of reach was lost for the Wildcats when it forced a St. Amant punt and fumbled the return away at the DHS 11.

“That was the most disappointing thing. I thought we had a chance to take the ball, drive it, and put things away. If we can score, it’s a different game. Instead, we give them the ideal chance to tie it up at 24.”

Guillory dialed up Chase Keller to tie the game on a 7-yard pass. Another Destrehan miscue gave the Gators the lead, when a bad snap in punt formation sailed out of the endzone for a safety.

Jones’ scoring run came next, but it only set up a classic finish for Destrehan.