By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

RESERVE — Two weeks ago, East St. John stood toe-to-toe with undefeated Destrehan before ultimately falling, a performance that perhaps suggested to the rest of Class 5A that DHS was fairly beatable.

In the rematch between the rival schools, Destrehan looked anything but.

Destrehan scored on the very first play from scrimmage and never looked back, dominating host East St. John 68-14 in a regional round playoff matchup.

“They beat us in every phase of the game,” ESJ coach Phillip Banko said. “From the players to the trainers to the head coach, credit Destrehan for playing like champions.”

The victory sets up a “St. Charles Parish Super Bowl” between Destrehan and archrival Hahnville in the Class 5A quarterfinals next week. Destrehan will host.

To get there, Destrehan knocked East St. John down early, and ultimately out before the first half was through. DHS led 38-7 at halftime.

East St. John’s hopes of rallying were compromised when quarterback and LSU commitment Xavier Lewis pulled up injured late in the first quarter, ESJ trailing 14-0 at the time, just outside of the Destrehan redzone. Lewis pulled a hamstring — he was able to finish out the half, but he was pulled from the lineup in the second half.

Destrehan (12-0) scored early when Kirk Merritt scored on a 55-yard run on the first play from scrimmage. Not to be outdone, Will Matthews scored a first quarter touchdown as well, running it in from 31 yards out to make it 14-0 with 3:29 left in the first quarter.

“It was very deflating,” Banko said. “We talked about preventing the big play all week. We knew we couldn’t let them get those big chunk plays. They executed, and we didn’t.”

ESJ (6-6) was on the move when Lewis went down — he had just completed a 56-yard pass to Jaylon Brown to set ESJ up deep in DHS territory. Lewis left the game, and DHS defended two Nigel Anderson incompletions to force a turnover on downs.

Four plays later, Kohen Granier — rotating at quarterback with Darensbourg throughout the night — found a wide open Merritt on a play-action pass that came from blown coverage. He took it in for a 59-yard score to make it 21-0.

Randy Harvey added a 27-yard field goal for Destrehan. On DHS’ next possession, Darensbourg hit Alfred Smith for a 38-yard touchdown pass.

Lewis returned to the game, and ESJ went for it on a fourth-and-one late in the first half. His pass deep to Jarrod Jackson fell incomplete, and DHS took over on downs. One play later, Matthews blasted up the middle for a 33-yard touchdown.

Playing with a sizeable limp, Lewis gutted out the rest of the half and led ESJ on a touchdown drive just before half, connecting with Shedrick Colbert for a 19-yard touchdown pass.

“He’s a warrior,” Banko said. “He didn’t want to come out. I told him he had to. Our doctor told me he could play without causing further damage to his hamstring if he stayed in the pocket, but the concern was the wrong type of hit with his leg planted could pop (the hamstring) completely. (Destrehan) has a great defensive front, and they were pinning their ears back, and Xavier’s health was the most important thing.”

Jarrod Jackson took over at quarterback in the second half and dialed up Brown in the endzone to cap ESJ’s first drive of the second half, a 48-yard touchdown to make it 38-14.

Two plays later, though, Destrehan slammed the door for good. This time it was Alfred Smith for a second time, scoring a 56-yard touchdown to make it a 45-14 game.

John Williams, Tramaine Armstrong, Chad Serrano and Tyjon Sanchez — on a fumble return — all scored touchdowns from there to close things out for DHS.

Matthews finished with 127 yards on the ground. Merritt hauled in three receptions for 94 yards.

Banko said he told his team after the game that it was the kind of night that would be hard to completely forget. He also reminded his seniors they advanced to the final 16 in Class 5A in three of the past four seasons — for a group still operating in less than optimal conditions post Hurricane Isaac, it’s plenty to be proud of, Banko said.

“It’s going to be hard to fully get over this, because we were outdone in every phase of the game,” Banko said. “It was truly a backyard whuppin’. It’ll leave an awful taste in all our mouthes.

“They fought, though. They tried to climb back, even in the end, and I’ll tell you what, that group accomplished a whole lot here. It wasn’t the way any of us wanted to end this season, but I’m proud of our guys and of our season.”