Class 5A Finals: Destrehan vs. Acadiana - Destrehan wins first state title in 3 decades 41-21

10:30 p.m.
OK, this one's over. I'm heading downstairs for quotes. See you back in a little while.

10:04 p.m.
The Damaris Johnson Show continues, with a 16-yard end around run for the touchdown. He got some great blocking sure, but he's just faster than Acadiana.

He's my vote for player of the game, and, along with Bastrop's Randall Mackey and South Plaquemines' Ridge Turner, put on one of the best performances of this state finals weekend. No offense to Destrehan quarterback Jordan Jefferson, but Johnson put on a show.

The two-point conversion came up short, but it doesn't really matter at this point.

Destrehan scoring drive: 3 plays, 50 yards, 40 seconds TOP

Destrehan 41, Acadiana 21, :49 3rd Q

9:56 p.m.
Having a goofy turnover is bad enough, but for it to be against Destrehan is just unfortunate. Jordan Jefferson made Acadiana pay for the oops on special teams by hitting Brandon Armstrong on a 33-yard pass. Jefferson rolled to his left, easily outrunning the defenders.

Though Armstrong was behind the secondary anyway, it helped the Acadiana's Brett Polaski fell down in his attempt to keep pace with Armstrong.

This one is over. Time of death for Acadiana's bid to repeat: 9:58 p.m., Dec. 8, 2007.

Destrehan scoring drive: 3 plays, 37 yards, 1:33 TOP

Destrehan 35, Acadiana 21, 3:17 3rd Q
9:51 p.m.
FYI, y'all set an attendance record this weekend. Today's attendance of 39,383 pushed the two-day total to 63,310, a two-day record for the state championships. The previous high was in 1999 when 61,900 attended to watch Oak Grove beat Kentwood in the 1A finals, Iota beat Port Barre in 2A, Amite beat Karr in 3A, Curtis beat Capitol in 4A and Evangel beat West Monroe in 5A.

Back to the game, Acadiana finally comes up with a stop, forcing Destrehan to punt for the first time all night. But you know you're meant to win and things are going your way when the punt bounces off the opponent. That's what happened, and Destrehan's Antonio Parker recovered at the Acadiana 37.

9:46 p.m.
Jonathan Morvant returned to start the second half for Acadiana. He rewarded the Rams with a 10-yard touchdown pass.

For this to become a game, Acadiana still has to prove that it can come up with a stop. We'll see. Here's its chance.

Acadiana scoring drive: 11 plays, 61 yards, 5:02 TOP

Destrehan 28, Acadiana 21, 6:52 3rd Q

9:25 p.m.
Just checking through the halftime stats, it's easy to see where Destrehan is winning. That would be on offense. Acadiana has 150 total yards, but Destrehan has loaded up with 281, on pace for 562 total yards.

For Destrehan, Jordan Jefferson: 3 carries, 5 yards and 1 TD, 7 of 8 passing for 166 yards and 1 TD; Jerico Nelson: 7 carries, 31 yards, 1 TD; Damaris Johnson: three carries, 77 yards, 1 TD and 3 catches for 44 yards; Tim Molton: 1 catch, 80 yards, 1 TD

For Acadiana: John Dean 14 carries, 37 yards, 1 TD; Dvan Alexander 3 carries, 17 yards; Louis Hollier 3 of 5 for 69 yards and 1 TD.

And here's a stat that really shows the dominance: Destrehan has yet to punt even though Acadiana holds a 14:50 to 9:10 time of possession advantage.

I'll say this: Through two quarters, this has been the cleanest game I've seen of the five divisions. A few penalties, but nothing big, and no turnovers. That's refreshing after we've seen abuot 25 turnovers in the past four games.

9:05 p.m.
Speed and college athletes will always prevail. That's the lesson we learned tonight, folks.

Just after Acadiana uses a 54-yard pass to get back in the game, Destrehan says whatever you can do, I can do better.

Jordan Jefferson, given a comfortable pocket, threw the ball about 60 yards in the air to Tim Molton, who caught the ball, turned to the defender who was guarding him and had fallen down, and stared at him as he ran 20 yards into the end zone.

Jefferson dropped back to throw a two-point conversion, but it was well covered. So he pulled the ball down and ran it in.

Jefferson to Molton - LSU fans could get used to that.

Destrehan scoring drive: 1 play, 80 yards, 11 seconds TOP

Destrehan 28, Acadiana 14, 1:33 2nd Q

9:00 p.m.
I'm not sure if this was a trick play or what, but Acadiana's Desmond Sam was wide - capital W I D E - open. Louis Hollier, who entered the game after Jonathan Morvant left with a shoulder injury, tossed a 54-yard touchdown pass to Sam down the Acadiana sideline.

i'm pretty positive there was some miscommunication going on on the Destrehan sideline and side of the ball.

Acadiana scoring drive: 4 plays, 73 yards, 1:49 TOP

Destrehan 20, Acadiana 14, 1:44 2nd Q

8:45 p.m.
yeah, i said it. Damaris Johnson owns Acadiana. Several times now he's been pinned in and somehow found a way out. His 19-yard run a second ago set up Jerico Nelson's 10-yard touchdown run.

I was just about to call this a game when Acadiana blocked another Destrehan extra-point. I can honestly say this is the first time I've seen two blocked field goals in a game.

Destrehan scoring drive: 6 plays, 50 yards, 2:34 TOP

Destrehan 20, Acadiana 7, 3:33 2nd Q

8:45 p.m.
This could be huge. Destrehan's Jerico Nelson sacked Acadiana quarterabck Jonathan Morvant, who then rolled around on the ground in pain. He was helped up, and it appears from this vantage-point on the 300 level of the dome, that his shoulder is hurt.

We'll see if something comes of this.

8:41 p.m.
This much is clear after about 16 minutes of the game: Acadiana can't match Destrehan's speed. There's a reason these guys are all college prospects.

Damaris Johnson took a handoff on an end around, got the corner and cut through about five defenders for a 12-yard touchdown.

Jordan Jefferson hit a wide open Tim Molton for the two-point conversion.

I'll be really interested to see if Acadiana makes any kind of adjustment to try to keep the corner sealed off. Problem is, Destrehan quarterback Jordan Jefferson has shown that he can pick apart the defense already from his lofty perch in the backfield.

Destrehan scoring drive: 9 plays, 80 yards, 3:10 TOP

Destrehan 14, Acadiana 7, 8:07 2nd Q

8:34 p.m.
Destrehan is currently driving, FYI.

Here's a first half observation for you: I think Destrehan isn't going to have a problem moving the ball. I'm not sure Acadiana has seen the team speed on offense that the Wildcats have.

But the key to this game might be that Acadiana won't have enough possessions to keep pace with Destrehan. That could go the other way, as well. If Acadiana comes up with a stop or two, and scores, it's eating a lot of time off the clock.

Get a possession lead and Destrehan will have to rely on a quick score. That's possible, of course.

Each team had one possession in the first quarter. That's almost unheard of. Acadiana contolled the clock 8:45 to 3:15, and had 10 fewer yards in the quarter. But the Wreckin' Rams had eight more plays.

For Destrehan: Damaris Johnson - 1 carry, 46 yards; Jordan Jefferson - 1 of 1 for 19 yards

For Acadiana: John Dean - 8 carries, 18 yards; Joey Morvant - 3 carries, 8 yards and 2 of 2 for 33 yards.

8:28 p.m.
Now this is the kind of game I like - quick so far. The first quarter might have taken 20 minutes. I think in the first two games today, 20 minutes got us about 4 minutes off the game clock.

Acadiana drove the field at the end of the quarter, and now just punched it in. The blocked PAT now might come up big in this game.

This is where the game could be won. Acadiana offense, while not flashy, just eats up yards and time. I've seen few drives in the college game, and probably none in the high school game, as efficient and methodical as this one.

Acadiana scoring drive: 16 plays, 70 yards, 9:21 TOP

Acadiana 7, Destrehan 6

8:09 p.m.
Destrehan drove down to the red zone using a couple of big plays. But then the Fighting Wildcats (aren't most wildcats fighters?) clammed up and decided to run inside.

On third-and-goal, though, Destrehan finally punched the ball in when Jordan Jefferson sneaked in.

But he made half the Superdome's hearts stop when he was buried in the pile. It took the officials a minute to figure things out.

The extra point was blocked by Ian Boudreaux.

Destrehan scoring drive: 6 plays, 71 yards, 3:15 TOP

Destrehan 6, Acadiana 0