At Destrehan, it’s a tradition.
Advancing to the state quarterfinals.
And the Thanksgiving Day donuts that come with it.
The Wildcats (9-3) have long been one of the state’s consistent winners, and year after year the program marches deep into the postseason. Destrehan is used to playing on Thanksgiving week, and each year the Wildcats do so, the team shares a Thanksgiving day treat: a feast of donuts in the morning, a prize well-earned.
“That’s always a cool tradition,” said Destrehan head coach Marcus Scott, whose teams have reached the quarterfinals in all five of his seasons leading the Destrehan program.
Those donuts are never promised, but earned – and did the Wildcats ever earn that treat with their performance last week on the road: a 63-21 demolition of No. 7 Northwood-Shreveport in which the Wildcats left no doubt of the better team on a night of second round action.
A mammoth rushing night by sophomore Malachi Dabney left Northwood with no answers. Dabney tallied 267 yards on 26 carries and a whopping six touchdowns on the ground. It’s Dabney’s third effort over 200 yards rushing in the past six games – and the win was the seventh in a row for Destrehan.
Dabney and the Wildcats made themselves at home in Shreveport – a good thing, given that Destrehan is headed right back there.
The 10th-seeded Wildcats are set to travel to face No. 2 Airline, with a trip to the Division I non-select state semifinals on the line. For Destrehan, a win would mean its ninth semifinal in 12 seasons.
But to make it happen, Destrehan must be the first to defeat Airline this season, as the Vikings are a perfect 11-0 after last week’s 42-16 win over 18th seeded Westgate.
This game will feature two of the state’s very best quarterbacks in Destrehan’s Jackson Fields and Airline’s Ben Taylor.
Airline is one of the state’s highest scoring teams. It’s 35-21 victory over Byrd in the ninth week of the regular season is something of a unicorn on the Vikings’ schedule – it’s the only game in which Airline didn’t score at least 45 points; Airline has performances of 76 and 69 points, the latter in a 69-68 victory over Capt. Shreve. That’s the one common opponent between these teams, as Destrehan defeated Capt. Shreve 46-42 this season.
Despite how high-powered the offense has been, the Vikings have played in a few tight games as well this season – wins by 1, 3, 5 and 5, all in blistering shootouts.
Taylor is one of the reasons why.
All the senior has done over his career at Airline is pile up the fourth most passing yards in Louisiana history. This season he’s thrown for more than 3,000 yards and has 38 touchdown passes to just three interceptions. He’s completed 74 percent of his passes. Last season, he finished with 49 touchdown passes. Taylor is a three-year starter and is committed to Northwestern State.
“He is excellent,” said Scott. “He really gets it out on time. He throws with anticipation – throws it before the wide receiver is out of his break. You don’t find it that much at the high school level. Jackson does it too. It’s high-level.”
Taylor’s favorite downfield target is quite the player as well. LSU committed Kenny Darby caught seven passes for 133 yards and a touchdown last week in Airline’s rout of Westgate.
“He’s one of the best players in the nation,” Scott said. “He has such a good combination of speed and body control. He can make difficult contested catches, he doesn’t have to be wide open to make a play. He’s very impressive to watch.”
The offensive line is very experienced, and the skill weapons are deep.
“As good as (Taylor and Darby) are, they’ve got really good players around them,” Scott said. “It’s tough to defend everybody. They cause a ton of problems.”
So, how does a defense go about stopping the Vikings?
“If you find out, let us know,” Scott said with a laugh. “Nobody else seems to have been able to figure them out. We’ll have our own approach and we’ll see what happens.”
Destrehan may call back to its win over Captain Shreve as an example leading into this game. The Wildcats were not able to hold the Shreve offense down for four quarters, but the Wildcats’ offense kept pace and the defense made enough stops when it needed to – including one of the final play of the game to seal it.
The Captain Shreve win was the first eruption for Dabney, who started the night off with a breakaway touchdown run and never relented on his way to 241 yards and four touchdowns.
Two weeks later it was 248 yards and a touchdown in Destrehan’s win over Hahnville. Then last week’s career high performance. The sophomore has found a knack for posting his best nights in Destrehan’s biggest games, and Friday certainly would be a welcome time for those elements to match up one more time for Destrehan.
“He runs hard. He runs with power,” said Scott. “It’s hard to bring him down with one person. And he’d be the first to tell you, our offensive line is playing very well.”
Likewise, another group is helping to make it happen in that regard.
“Our receivers have done a really good job of competing and blocking on the perimeter,” Scott said. “They’re taking it personal and being aggressive.”