The Dutchtown Griffins were able to bounce back from last weeks loss against Walker in a dominant showing against the East Ascension Spartans. The Griffins now move to 7-1 on their season, and East Ascension now falls to 3-7.
During tonight’s game, the weather played a part in the early-going as well as before the game as it was raining nonstop. This played into both teams game-plan, especially Dutchtown. Star RB, Lekedrin Harvey was the first player to score for both teams, as the Griffins looked to establish the run early on.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Spartans took a risky decision and ran a trick play, this resulted in a big TD for them as Lathan Dumas was able to run into the end-zone untouched. This drive was immediately met with a successful field goal for Dutchtown, putting them up 10-7 in the 2nd.
After East Ascension stalled out trailing, Dutchtown drove down field looking to go into halftime with a two possession lead. They were successful in doing this with an absurd catch from Martell Rogers, where he displayed amazing awareness for the ball.
Coming out of half-time, the rain had cleared. However, that didn’t stop Dutchtown from their game-plan of consistently running the football. After a scoreless 3rd quarter for both teams, QB, Dylan Champagne sneaked into the end-zone to put his team up 24-7.
After this, East Ascension played in ‘hurry-up’ for the rest of the game. They relied on fast tempo plays and their passing game in the final quarter. QB, Caden Gautreaux was able to sneak into the end-zone himself to make the score 24-14 with 4:45 left in the game. I should note that East Ascension missed two field goals during the second half as well.
The game was iced with a late TD, by Lekedrin Harvey, who had two TDs on the day. Other standout players for Dutchtown were QB, Dylan Champagne, and WR, Martell Rogers. Standout players for East Ascension were DB, Ernest Mitchell, WR, Lathan Dumas, and QB, Caden Gautreaux
After the game, I was able to talk to Coach Mistretta
“You know, it was just a gut check for us. We got our butts handed to us last week. We didn’t play our style of football and they took to us. And knowing it’s a rival game, those guys had to come out because their back’s against the wall to get playoffs. We knew we were going to get a physical game, so just a gut check. That’s what tonight was about, gut check, and I thought the guys really rose to the occasion. Early on, I thought we had chances to really kind of dominate and take the game and then late, doing what you got to do to to finish it.”
Coach Mistretta when asked how he thought his team played tonight
“That’s the thing, man, when you go back and look at the film, we did not play our style of football. Now, Walker is a good team and they took it to us and credit them, but we didn’t bring it like we normally do. I thought that’s what was the the theme all week, and I thought we did tonight.”
Coach Mistretta when asked how his team was able to bounce back from last week’s loss and dominate the run
“I think that says it all. It’s all you want to do in week 10 is to play for a championship and we’ve got that opportunity, so we’ve got to get some a good weekend of recovery and and go to work on Monday, I think the guys will be excited about it.”
Coach Mistretta when asked what can we expect to see next week for the District Championship
After tonight’s win, the Dutchtown Griffins now move to 7-1 on their season and 4-1 in their district. Their next game will be at home, against Live Oak for the District Championship. On the other hand, East Ascension moves to 3-7 on their season and 2-3 in their district. Their next game will be on the road, against Walker!
Check out some photos that I took of the game!
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