By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

After almost two weeks of uncertainty, River Parish football fans were finally able to get their fill at Lutcher Wednesday night.

With the threat of Hurricane Ike prompting officials at St. Amant and Lutcher to move their game up from Friday night to Wednesday, it left each team with only two days to prepare for what was now the season opener after Hurricane Gustav eliminated most Week One action.

But while Lutcher lacked preparation time, the product it put on the field looked awfully familiar – big plays, and lots of them were the name of the game, as Lutcher scored three times from 47-yards or more to thrill the home fans and net a 28-14 victory over St. Amant.

Lutcher’s Jarvis Landry scored two touchdowns and Bulldogs quarterback Gavin Webster helped account for three touchdowns in his first game as a starter.

Lutcher Coach Tim Detillier noted that there were still things to clean up – each side showed rust in the early portion of the game. He did, however, applaud his team’s effort – particularly a defense that held St. Amant scoreless until the 3:32 mark of the fourth quarter.

“St. Amant changed everything from the last time we faced them (in 2007),” said Detillier. “They went from a wide open offense to the triple option. That’s hard to simulate, especially with only two days.

“But once our defense got a look at it, they really controlled things. I can’t say enough about (the defense), they were tremendous.”

A major subplot entering the game was how Webster would perform in his first start. He didn’t take long to bring Bulldog fans to their feet. On the second play of Lutcher’s second possession, he faked a handoff to tailback Daniel Taylor and took off running up the middle. Webster would find himself in the open field and finish a 75-yard touchdown run that put Lutcher up 6-0. The point-after kick attempt was no good.

“It was definitely a relief,” said Webster. “The jitters were gone after that.”

The score would not change until early in the second quarter. Lutcher drove down to the St. Amant 4-yard line, but a holding penalty pushed them back to the 17, where they’d face third and goal. Webster found Landry in one-on-one coverage though, and the sophomore beat his man to haul in the touchdown. Webster found Brandon St. Pierre on a two-point try to make it 14-0 with 10:59 left in the second quarter.

Landry left the game briefly after the two-point try with a shoulder injury, but he’d return in time for the Bulldogs’ next possession. On its third play, he took an end-around pitch at the Gator 47, made a move, and broke away for his second score of the night.

“(Landry) is a very intense player. A lot of kids probably wouldn’t have come back (after the injury). He’s definitely a big play threat, and that’s no secret.”

There would be no scoring until St. Amant got on the board for the first time with 3:32 left in the fourth quarter, when Adrian Bourgeois capped a seven play drive with a 19-yard touchdown run to make it 21-7.

That momentum was short-lived. After Lutcher recovered an onside kick attempt, Taylor broke away from the defense up the sideline on the very first play and gave Lutcher its final touchdown, 28-7.

Webster ran twelve times for 118 yards and completed 6-of-14 passes for 66 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Taylor ran 10 times for 85 yards. .

Bourgeois led St. Amant with seven rushes for 85 yards.

Every drive wasn’t smooth for Lutcher, but it’s penchant for creating explosive plays proved the difference.

“Obviously, anyone would love to move the ball, run 8-10 plays and control the clock. But this is just what we are. We’ve got a big play oriented offense,” Detillier said.

Just as important as the win to Detillier was that his team finally had a chance to play at all.

“We got to play it, in pretty good conditions,” he said. “We feel like it was a good idea to move it up. Thankfully, we were able to play with no rain and no threat to any human beings.”