By LORI LYONS
Contributing Writer

With a slew of former Destrehan football greats on hand to celebrate homecoming, the 2013 Wildcats put on a show, dominating Central Lafourche, 37-3.

The members of the 1973 state championship team and the 1993 state runner-up team reunited and were honored on the field before Friday night’s game. And they had barely settled into their seats before this generation of Wildcats were on their way to victory. Before three minutes had elapsed, the Wildcats had taken a 13-0 lead. With four minutes still remaining in the first quarter, Destrehan led 23-0 over an overmatched and under-manned team of Trojans.

Destrehan quarterback Donovan Isom gave his usual effort, completing his first five passes for 55 yards and one touchdown to Tramaine Armstrong. Isom finished the night 11 of 15 for 188 yards. But the Wildcats also went to the running game. Running back Will Matthews rushed for 80 yards and one touchdown in the first quarter alone and finished the night with 82 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries. Karon Taylor ran for an 8-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Cameron Walsh added a 27-yard field goal in the first quarter.  

And the Destrehan defense shined once again. The Wildcats held the Trojans to 45 yards of offense, all of it rushing, and five first downs, all but two by penalty. Running back Da’Quan Gray finished with 39 yards on 18 carries and was credited with the Trojans’ longest play from scrimmage — a 9-yard run in the fourth quarter. The Trojans (3-4, 1-3) are on their fourth starting quarterback of the season. The first three have succumbed to injuries. Friday night’s starter, Chandler Richard was 0-for-3 passing and was sacked twice. The Trojans had a total of 20 plays for zero yards or a loss and two turnovers.

Peyton Steib recovered one Central Lafourche fumble that led to Destrehan’s second touchdown in the first quarter. And it was Wildcats senior Malcolm Darensbourg who put the Wildcats ahead 23-0 in the first quarter when he scooped up a Central Lafourche fumble at the Trojans’ 9-yard line and returned it for the score.

“The D-line did a real good job getting to the ball,” Darensbourg said. “Two players bobbled the ball and I just happened to be lucky enough to grab the ball and run in for the touchdown.”

Senior Matt Gunter was one of those defensive linemen.

“We like to play as a unit,” Gunter said. “You can’t be selfish and try to make plays on our own. We’ve got to put each other in position to make plays and we do our job every time.”

“Our defense was playing at a high level,” Destrehan coach Stephen Robicheaux said. “They’ve been doing a great job and Coach (Lance) Ledet’s been doing a tremendous job. We’ve been playing well on defense.”

But Robicheaux wasn’t as pleased with the offensive effort.

“I think we made some decisions that we didn’t like and we just need to clean that up,” he said. “As a head coach, I see all the negatives, but we did do a lot of good things. I see the personal fouls, I see the things that are undisciplined. Those are the things that, if we’re going to beat the best teams in the state, we’ve got to clean that up.”

Among the miscues were three personal foul penalties, a bad snap on a punt that led to a 33-yard loss and a misplayed lateral from Isom to Alfred Smith that led to Central Lafourche’s only points early in the fourth quarter.  It took 10 plays and a roughing the passer penalty for the Trojans to drive to the Destrehan 17 for a 24-yard field goal by Brader Dufrene. Destrehan also turned the ball over on downs with 6:52 remaining in the game.

Robicheaux blamed the many distractions of homecoming week on his undefeated team’s effort.

“The greatest thing about tonight is, homecoming’s over,” he said. “We can get ready to go and get ready for South Lafourche.”