By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

BOUTTE — Nobody will ever question the 2012 Hahnville Tigers’ resolve to fight back.

Hahnville didn’t let an 0-4 start destroy their season, nor did they allow a 14-0 early deficit to do so in their opening round playoff game against St. Paul’s.

Instead, the Tigers methodically fought back, game-by-game on the season, play-by-play on Friday night.

Hahnville not only can call itself district champion now, but is looking to make a playoff run after scoring a 25-21 bi-district victory on the road against a stout St. Paul’s team.

“We started slow, once again, but we fought back to get out of the first round,” said Hahnville coach Lou Valdin. “Our quarterback (Easton Melancon) played exceptionally. The big key, along with that, was our defense shut down their run game.”

The Tigers have won six straight games, winning them in a number of different ways. A 47-44 shootout against Destrehan. A 20-19 defensive war with Bonnabel. A 49-6 domination of John Ehret.

Things won’t be easier in the next round — but the Tigers will return home to face a 10-1 Parkway team, the seventh seed in 5A.

Hahnville (6-4), the 23rd seed, will face a Panthers team that lost one game to Airline, 36-13, and has won each of its other 10 games decisively. That includes a 44-14 victory over Class 5A 15-seed Byrd, a 41-26 win over No. 24 Haughton, and a 41-7 win over Class 3A No. 14 seed Farmerville.

The Tigers’ slow start was fueled in a large way by turnovers. Hahnville cleaned that aspect up as the season has rolled along, but it will need to continue. Parkway intercepted Live Oak quarterbacks seven times last week in its 36-13 win, with Brodrick Jefferson and Holland Wolf each intercepting two passes.

Jefferson is one of the team’s go-to players on offense. He caught eight passes for 71 yards and ran twice for 17 last week. Quarterback Brandon Harris is dangerous. He accounted for four touchdowns in the win over Byrd.

“They’ve got a big quarterback, similar to Destrehan. Their running back is extremely fast, and they’ve got a super, superstar wide receiver (Jefferson).

“They throw the ball like crazy and they score a lot of points. But the good thing is, they’re coming to us … We’ve got to keep the streak alive. If the streak ends, the season ends.”