VACHERIE – St. James High School football coach Robert Valdez said he knew his team had a chance to be pretty good this season, but even he is a little surprised at just how good his Wildcats are.

St. James is undefeated at the halfway point and, this week, moved ahead of Sterlington (4-0) for the top spot in the Louisiana Sports Writers Class 3A poll.

“It feels good,” Valdez said. “The kids are playing well. To be 5-0 right now feels good, but we have a lot of work ahead of us. Did I think we’d be 5-0? I think every coach wants to be 5-0. A realistic coach will tell you, you have to play and see how it goes.”

It has been so far, so good for the Wildcats, who have knocked off Class 5A opponents East St. John (30-7), Riverdale (35-13) and Destrehan (31-24), a ranked West St. John team (28-8) and, last week, ranked 4A team Assumption (31-24).

But all bets are off this week as the Wildcats face their nemesis, cross-river rival Lutcher, in the much-anticipated District 9-3A showdown. The last two meetings were non-district contests won by St. James. This is the 42^nd meeting of the teams, but it’s much more than just a football game. The Southern University Human Jukebox is scheduled to perform at halftime and the pre-game tailgating is expected to be off the charts.

Valdez said the key this week is to keep his team focused on football.

“We just have to play our game and keep focused on the little things,” he said. “It’s part of the process. Everybody knows everybody. Everybody’s been talking about it all off-season. What was kind of a whisper is now a scream.”

Focusing on football is what helped the Wildcats get to their 5-0 record, Valdez said. The victories against East St. John and Destrehan were statement wins to some people, but not to his team.

“I think, for our kids, it was just validation that, ‘hey man. We can do this,’” Valdez said. “For a lot of people, it was a surprise but, for our kids, it was a process. This was supposed to happen.”

Always known for its speed and athleticism, St. James has not disappointed on offense. Quarterback Shamar Smith is the team’s leading rusher with more than 500 yards and eight touchdowns through 5 games. He has thrown for six more scores.

“We’ve been spreading it around a lot on offense,” Valdez said.

What has been a surprise to many is the play of the St. James defense. The Wildcats forced six turnovers last week against Assumption, including five interceptions.

“We’ve got some guys that are making plays right now that, we knew they could, we just didn’t know exactly how,” Valdez said.