When Dwain Jenkins crossed the Mississippi River from the West Bank of St. James Parish to the East Bank in February, it meant more than just a wardrobe change.

Jenkins was fulfilling his destiny.

He was succeeding his mentor, his former boss and his own football coach, Tim Detillier, when he took over the Lutcher Bulldogs.

It was his dream job, for sure.

But nobody said it was going to be easy.

When he had first crossed from Lutcher to St. James in 2013, Jenkins was taking on a huge rebuilding project.

The Wildcats had gone 0-for-20 over the previous two seasons. Jenkins took over and led them to a record of 25-16, culminating in a trip to the 2015 Class 3A championship game.

When Jenkins took over at Lutcher, though, he was taking on a legacy.

Lutcher had just won the Class 3A title over St. James, the school’s seventh state championship.

He returned one of the best quarterbacks the school had seen in Jontre Kirklin.

The word “rebuild” was not in the Bulldogs’ vocabulary.

“It was definitely more challenging,” Jenkins said. “They were two completely different experiences. One was 0-20 and one was coming off a state championship. There were a lot of expectations.”

Jenkins said everyone in purple and gold knew exactly when the 2016 Class 3A state championship was and everyone expected them to be there.

Fortunately for him, the Bulldogs will be.

Lutcher, the No. 4 seed, has advanced to the Class 3A final against No. 7 seed Amite. The two will square off at noon Saturday in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

For Jenkins, it is a historic occasion. He becomes the first Louisiana coach to take two different schools to the final in back-to-back seasons.

He said it is a much-different feeling from last year, when Amite was disqualified from the Class 3A state playoffs following a bench-clearing fight at the end of a quarterfinal playoff game against Bogalusa.

The disqualification sent St. James past the semifinals and straight into the finals.

Jenkins also becomes the first coach to take Lutcher to the final in back-to-back  years. Previous tries in 1976, 2004 and 2009 ended in the semifinals.

“All those games were at home too,” Jenkins said. “Maybe we just needed to go on the road to get it done.”

Jenkins hopes this weekend will be different in other ways, as well.

He would love to see the Superdome clock tick down on a win.

“I’ve done the second place thing, now I’m ready to win it,” he said.

Note: In other local coaching news, after two years as coach of the West St. John High School Rams, Brandon Walters has finally had the “interim” tag removed from his title. He was officially named the Rams’ head coach this week.

“It’s a weight off, definitely,” Walters said. “Now I can just focus on the team.”

Lori Lyons is sports editor at L’OBSERVATEUR. She can be reached at 985-652-9545 or lori.lyons@lobservateur.com.