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Lori Lyons

Special to L’Observateur

Going into Friday night’s District 9-1A matchup between Riverside Academy and St. Martin’s, nearly all of the talk was about the Saints’ highly-touted running back, Harlem Berry. But Riverside running back Dedric Lastie stole the show.

Lastie, a 5-foot-5 junior, rushed for 351 yards and four touchdowns on 18 carries to help the Rebels take a dominating 55-14 win over St. Martin’s and put them in the driver’s seat for the district race.

It was another winning weekend for the St. John the Baptist Parish teams with East St. John and St. Charles Catholic remaining undefeated in shutout wins.. The Wildcasts improved to 6-0 with a 31-0 victory over H.L. Bourgeois while St. Charles Catholic handled Abbeville 51-0.

West St. John’s scheduled game at Varnado was postponed due to an issue with the lights. The game was re-scheduled to be played Monday night at 6 p.m. at Varnado. The game ended in a win for Varnado with a score of 22-20. Riverside (5-1, 1-0) will host West St. John Friday night in Reserve. 

Berry, who is proclaimed to be the No. 1 running back in the nation, rushed for 160 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries, caught three passes for 22 yards, and was pressed into duty as quarterback after an injury to starter Ashton Oliver. But he was hemmed in much of the night by a stout Riverside defense and certainly was outshined by Lastie.

“I just wanted to show them I’m here too,” Lastie said after the game. 

The Rebels forced three turnovers, with Cruz Cambre intercepting Oliver, Jaedon Butler intercepting Berry and Amiree Alexander forcing a fumble. 

Riverside got rolling quickly, scoring on their first possession when quarterback Brock Bourgeois connected with Mason Smith on a 61-yard touchdown with 7:20 remaining in the first quarter.

Butler ended the Saints next possession when he stepped in front of a Berry pass with 2:15 remaining in the first quarter. One play later, Lastie broke free for his first score, a 68-yard run. 

Lastie scored his second touchdown with 8:01 remaining in the first half on a 48-yard run to give the Rebels a 21-0 lead. After Cambre’s interception with 5:42 remaining in the half, Lastie broke free again for his third touchdown with 5:13 remaining.

Berry finally put the Saints on the board with a 35-yard run with 4:47 remaining in the half.

The Rebels padded their lead just before the end of the half when coach Lee Roussel called for a reverse. Bourgeois handed off to Lastie who then found Bourgeois in the endzone with 6.9 seconds on the clock. Bourgeois ran for a touchdown in the third quarter to finish a hat-trick of one rushing, one passing and one receiving touchdown. 

Lastie scored his final touchdown early in the fourth quarter on a 38-yard run that gave Riverside a 48-14 lead. Eighth grader Kenric Johnson closed out the scoring with a 1-yard run with 9:33 remaining in the game. The Comets continue to dominate their opponents. St. Charles held Abbeville to 80 yards of offense while rolling up 226 with seven different ball carriers. 

Brady St. Pierre passed for two touchdowns, one to Jackson Doster and another to Brandon Kragle. Skylar Edwards rushed for 60 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Jeremiah Wills ran for 62 yards and one touchdown. Evan Duffor ran for 34 yards and one score. 

The Comets will travel to St. Martinville Friday night for a non-district contest.

East St. John pummeled H.L. Bourgeois with 352 yards of offense – 243 passing by senior quarterback Kairan Smith. After a scoreless first quarter, he connected with Koyal Gray Jr. on an 80-yard touchdown in the second quarter. He found Gray again for a 21-yard touchdown in the third quarter. Jorell Martin led the rushing attack with 78 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries. 

The Wildcats (6-0, 3-0) will travel to Central Lafourche (0-6, 0-2) Friday night.

(Note: This article includes a correction for what is in print. The original article said that Lastie rushed for 296 yards and four touchdowns on 17 carries. This has been corrected above to reflect the correct numbers.)