GEISMAR – After a season that saw their first two games canceled forcing the Griffins to face traditional power Redemptorist in a makeup game, Dutchtown’s revamped non-district schedule opens with defending Class 3A state champion Lutcher traveling to Griffin Field Friday night at 7 p.m.
“You don’t get but 10 games,” Dutchtown head coach Benny Saia said. “It is not like baseball, so if you lose one it is a big deal. You work awful hard for 10 games so yes, you want to play the games. That is why you practice and lift weights in the summer.”
Dutchtown is coming off an 8-3 season a year ago falling to Barbe in the Class 5A regional playoffs. The Griffins fell to Denham Springs 17-7 in the Jambalaya Jamboree last Thursday.
Lutcher finished 12-2 last season to claim its sixth state championship and third in head coach Tim Detillier’s 18 years at the school by defeating Notre Dame in the title game. The Bulldogs, who move up in classification to 4A this season, are coming off a 25-0 victory over two-time defending Class 5A state champion Destrehan in the Ed Reed River Parishes Jamboree.
“They are good,” Saia said. “They are a good football team and they have some really talented kids. I don’t know anything about the history and none of our kids do, but we know about what they did last year and we know about the type of team that they have and how they are going to come in here. It is going to be a tough game.”
The game will mark the first time Dutchtown plays Lutcher in over 40 years. Dutchtown previously played the Bulldogs regularly till the school was consolidated with Gonzales and St. Amant to form East Ascension in 1966. A new Dutchtown High School was built in 2002 but the Griffins have never faced Lutcher till this Friday night.
Senior all-state quarterback Gavin Webster returns to orchestrate the Bulldogs’ spread offense and threw for 163 yards and two touchdowns on 10-of-14 passing last week while also running for another 40-yard score. Webster’s top target is junior all-state wide receiver Jarvis Landry. Sophomore running back Daniel Taylor also returns to the potent offense.
“They are very good on offense,” Saia said. “They have speed everywhere you look and they have playmakers so we have to try and contain them. We have to play our assignments and we have to tackle. Most of their plays are short passes that they run long ways with because nobody tackles them. We have to be a good tacking team and gang tackle. We have to rally to the ball and try to prevent the big play.”
The Griffins were without their senior all-state safety Eric Reid for all but one defensive play last week after he received a stinger. Reid is expected to return but senior defensive back Marcus Godfrey is not. Junior defensive backs Jonathan Darville and Shaquille Lewis were relied upon heavily last week in their absence.
“It hurts when we don’t have all of our guys but that is just the nature of the game,” Saia said. “We hope Eric can go the whole game and we hope that we get Marcus back at some point during the season but right now some young guys are going to have to step up and take their place. Last week, Jonathan was the only one on the field that started last year in the secondary and that was supposed to be an area of strength for us. We would like to have our guys back.”
Junior Effrem Reed is Dutchtown’s leading returning rusher but the injury bug also hit the Griffins on the offensive side of the ball last week as two other backs did not dress in junior Thaddeus Godfrey and sophomore Troy Lewis leaving way for freshmen Austin Brown to start. Junior Leon Blouin is the Griffins’ signal caller and thew a 30-yard touchdown pass to senior Jamon Stanton for Dutchtown’s lone score.
“We want to try and control the football and not make mistakes that kill ourselves,” Saia said. “Penalties and bad snaps are types of things that we can’t do against a team like this.”
