BY GEORGE MAHL

VACHERIE- The motto for the 2002 St. James High School football team is “Make it Happen.” Well, after Friday night, the Wildcats are three wins away from making it happen.

Solid execution on both sides of the ball lead to a convincing 27-6 defeat of parish rival Lutcher High School.

“I told our guys this week we need to envision Lutcher playing a perfect game and us still winning. I think our guys practiced like that and it showed off,” said St. James head coach Rick Gaille.

With St. James leading 13-6 in the third quarter, the Wildcats were facing a fourth down and four from the Bulldogs’ 15-yard line. Desi Steib ran it in to give St James a 20-6 lead near the end of the third quarter.

At the start of the fourth quarter, LHS put a drive together that led to the Bulldogs having the ball first and goal on the 10-yard line. It appeared that the Bulldogs cut the lead to a touchdown when split end Gerard Landry ran it in from the seven.

However, the play was called back when LHS was called for illegal motion.

On fourth down and goal from the Wildcats’ 13-yard line, LHS quarterback Bryce Matherne threw an incomplete pass ending the drive. With 8:44 left in the game, SJHS senior David Johnson made two crucial plays. The first was a third and eight pass from SJ quarterback Blake Falgoust to Johnson resulting in a 47-yard gain over the middle of the field.

“Blake managed the offense well tonight. He was efficient when he needed to be,” Gaille said.

Later, Johnson ran it in from the 12 to make it 27-6 Wildcats.

“I thought our kids played hard tonight. St. James made the plays when they needed and we didn’t,” LHS coach Tim Detillier said.

Things got off to a bad start for the Wildcats. On the first play from scrimmage, Steib fumbled the ball, which gave LHS a first down in St. James territory.

Ten plays later, the Wildcats were facing a six-point deficit thanks to a five-yard touchdown run from Ellis Hughes. However, the Vacherie school came right back to get its first lead of the game. A huge hole opened up by the St. James offensive line led to a 19-yard touchdown run from Donavan Williams.

“We had a lot of pressure on ourselves because of how well we played last week,” Wildcats center Emmanuel Sterling said.