By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LUTCHER — Lutcher coach Tim Detillier doesn’t buy the rhetoric that a district title means less than it once did.

The power points system, he said, makes predistrict games mean more, but doesn’t make district games mean less.

“I still see T-shirts, letter jackets, things advertising “District Champion” on the front. So it’s still important to a lot of people, no matter what they say,” said Lutcher coach Tim Detillier. “This is a goal of ours, and it’s not the goal that I set. It’s important to me, yes, but our kids set this goal at the beginning of the season.”

Lutcher clinched a share of the District 8-4A championship with a thrilling 19-16 win over Vandebilt Catholic that came down to a 6-yard touchdown pass from Austin Brack to Jarvis Landry with one second remaining. It was the second time in a month that Brack-to-Landry provided the winning points.

All that stands between Lutcher (8-1, 3-1) and an undefeated, outright district crown is Morgan City (2-7, 1-3). Morgan City has lost its last three games by a combined score of 114-27.

For Detillier, the body of work of his team’s opponent isn’t as important as the Bulldogs completing its own this regular season in impressive fashion.

“It’s about preparing for that faceless opponent,” said Detillier. “It’s about us, and cleaning up the things we need to clean up if we want to play in December.”

The main point Detillier would like to see improved upon is within the turnover battle. Lutcher is minus-three in giveaway/takeaway ratio this season.

“I can’t believe that we’re 8-1 on that side of the takeaway battle,” said Detillier. “It doesn’t compute. And it’s going to catch up with us if we don’t fix it.”

Four LHS turnovers came in Friday’s win over Vandebilt Catholic. Lutcher took a 13-10 third quarter lead on Jared Poche’s 23-yard pass to Daniel Taylor, but a pair of Vandebilt field goals lifted the Terriers to a 16-13 lead with 2:26 remaining.

But with 1.7 seconds left on the clock, Austin Brack fired a pass to Jarvis Landry on a slant and Landry powered through to cross the plane of the goalline for a 6-yard score, lifting Lutcher to an emotional victory at the Dog Yard.

Vandebilt (6-2, 3-1) was on a five-game winning streak entering the game, playing most of those games after a tragic automobile accident took the lives of four Vandebilt students, including the team’s starting quarterback and free safety.

“I’m proud of my kids. They showed a lot of character,” said Detillier. “I thought we had the most talented team in the field. But I feel like they had the most determined team. When it was over, I just felt so bad for them … they played with a purpose. How can you not root for Vandebilt? I truly respect what they’re doing.”

The Terriers controlled the clock in the game, holding the ball for 32:02 to Lutcher’s 15:18.

Brack turned in a strong effort, completing 11 of 14 passes for 142 yards and two scores, but did throw two interceptions. Landry led all receivers with nine catches for 91 yards.