By GEORGE MAHL

It’s hard to believe the 2002 high school football regular season is over.

It all started at the River Parishes Jamborees. I was shocked at how well St. James High School (a 3A school) played against Hahnville High School (a 5A school) in one of the games. The game ended in a 20-20 tie. This game was indicative of how well both teams would play in the regular season.

Week One saw another 3A school (Lutcher High School) play a powerful 5A school (East St. John High School) in Lutcher. The LHS Bulldogs fought hard but ended up losing 35-23 to ESJ. Considering the new talent he had around him, LHS coach Tim Detillier deserves a huge amount of credit for hanging in there against a bigger Wildcats team. The next week, the Bulldogs would get a big win with a 33-29 upset of St. Amant in Hammond.

The next big game on the schedule was a Sept. 20 game between Riverside Academy and St. James. This game featured two veteran coaches, Mickey Roussel and Rick Gaille, against each other. The SJ Wildcats defense shut-out the RA Rebels, while the SJ offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage.

A very unusual thing happened prior to the St. Charles Catholic High School versus Lawless High School. The LHS boys locker room caught fire, destroying the team’s uniforms and canceling the game.

Of course, it was complete chaos the next two weeks. First, Tropical Storm Isidore wreaked havoc on the schedule by forcing several games to be rescheduled. For instance, East St. John ended up playing Hahnville on a Sunday. It felt odd to the say the least.

The next week Hurricane Lili decided to slam into the coast and mess up the schedule. As a matter of fact, Destrehan High School ended up changing its game with Central Lafourche High School three or four times. Oct. 11 brought the two biggest schools in the River Parishes together for one huge game. Destrehan-Hahnville drew more than 5,000 fans. Luckily, the game lived up to expectations as the HHS Tigers scored with less than a minute left to get the win.

In a crucial district 10-3A game between St. James and St. Charles the Comets fell one yard short of the endzone and a win.

As the “second season” gets underway, there are several local teams with momentum, such as West St. John High School, winners of nine in a row, and Riverside Academy, which has one four of its last five.

I think the River Parishes will be well represented in the Superdome.

GEORGE MAHL is a sportswriter for L’Observateur.