Dutchtown blanks ESJ

• By BRYAN LAZARE
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Oct 31, 2009

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DUTCHTOWN — There will be no winner-take-all game for the District 6-5A championship next week.

Dutchtown made sure that East St. John would not be able to hold up its end of the deal by crushing the Wildcats 34-0 at Griffin Stadium on Friday night.

The district loss was the first for East St. John (7-2), which entered the night tied with Hahnville for the league lead. The Tigers remained unbeaten and clinched a tie for the district title by defeating St. Amant.

But, the story of the game was a dominating first-half performance by Dutchtown (6-3, 2-2), which suffered a 41-7 defeat at the hands of Hahnville last week. The Griffins played flawlessly on both sides of the ball while building a 34-0 advantage in the first half.

The field conditions deteriorated due to the steady rain after halftime. Neither team scored in the final two quarters. But, by that time, Dutchtown was well on its way to that all-important sixth victory.

“That was a big victory for us,” Dutchtown coach Benny Saia said. “That means we’ll have a winning season. It also means we’re in good shape for a home playoff game if we can win next week (against East Ascension).”

Effrem Reed was the offensive star for Dutchtown with three first-half touchdowns. Reed, who rushed for 109 yards on 17 attempts, had scoring runs of three and nine yards and caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from Leon Blouin.

The Griffins registered one other offensive touchdown in the first half. Troy Lewis capped a short 39-yard drive on Dutchtown’s first series with a 3-yard run. Lewis caught a 34-yard pass from Blouin which put the ball at East St. John’s 5.

The fifth Griffins touchdown in the opening half came from their defense. Marcus Godfrey picked off a Kalen Henderson pass and returned the ball 27 yards for a touchdown.

Henderson had two other passes picked off in the first half — another one by Godfrey and one by Eric Reid. The interception by Reid set up the touchdown pass from Blouin to Reed.

“We protected the ball well in bad conditions,” Saia said. “We also moved the ball well, which helped us. It was an awesome performance by us. There’s not much more to say.”

East St. John played without its top wide receiver, D’haquille Williams, who was suspended from school earlier in the day. In the first half, the Wildcats gained just 28 yards in 25 plays.

The East St. John offense was no better in the second half. For the game, Henderson completed three of 21 passes for 17 yards. Henderson was sacked five times and threw four interceptions. Reynaldo Young rushed for 47 yards on 16 carries.