By ROBERT L. LEE

DESTREHAN – Destrehan players agree the march into history and to the state championship doesn’t depend on Jesuit or any of the six other teams in the elite eight as much as it depends on the Fighting Wildcats themselves. The mood throughout the Destrehan camp has been a feeling of revenge, alongside a never-die, “renegade” mentality. This mind set propelled them out of their 6-0 hole and past Mandeville, as well as past every team in their district.

“We are going up to New Iberia to do one thing, it comes down to whether or not we beat ourselves,” explained first baseman Daniel Luquet. “We know we can win.”

The Fighting Wildcats set off for their first appearance in the state tournament in New Iberia Thursday afternoon, in preparation for their quarterfinal match with Jesuit at 1 p.m. Friday. The Blue Jays beat Destrehan in their only game this season 7-2 at Zephr Stadium in March. The Fighting Wildcats gave up four errors to assist the Blue Jays in scoring runs in all but one inning.

“That’s the only game we played bad all year,” said Destrehan coach Marty Luquet. “We’ve lost others, but we played well.”

At the beginning of the season, the Fighting Wildcats’ spoke of having a winning record, how nice a district championship would be and of course, mentioned the ultimate goal of taking the state championship. The latter goal has eluded the team since Destrehan won the state championship in 1973.

“You always talk about winning state, but how often do you get close enough to see it,” said Luquet just before leaving for New Iberia. “We are not going out there to win one game.”

Luquet said his attention turned to the playoffs and a run at the championship as soon as his team beat Hahnville. Following their undefeated district record and riding their 18-game win streak, Luquet did not need to motivate his players for their playoff task.

“We’ve had a tremendous reaction from everyone and the kids have been feeding off each other. I have to have gotten 100 congratulatory calls,” said Luquet. “The problem is we don’t have enough substitute teachers to fill in for all who want to go.”

“It’s an honor, a senior dream come true,” said Jared Strickland, one of the Fighting Wildcats’ 10 seniors. He said the school has been “real supportive,” and people throughout the town have wished him and the team good luck.

Standing out among Strickland’s memories of Jesuit, are the two points which were driving the Fighting Wildcats the hardest. First was the thought of playing on Destrehan’s football team and being knocked out of the playoffs by Jesuit. The second knife in their side came with the earlier 7-2 loss.

“We want revenge,” he said. “We’re confident. We have been working real hard and the intensity has been real high.”

“Everyone’s excited,” said Luquet, who said this run at the championship “is something I’ve dreamt about as a little kid and I’m ready to get the job done.”

Part of the job will also be training the players on how to handle the tournament environment, which the team of Fighting Wildcats have never seen.

“We have no players with tournament experience,” admitted Luquet. He said himself and two other coaches are the only members that have been in the elite eight, “and we’re not playing. But the players are ready to go.” He said both the coaches and players are all tired of practicing and simply talking about what they plan to do.

“Right now the players are all excited because it’s their first time, but I hope to get them not so excited, I want them to get used to it.”