PHS paints over Lusher visitors in a “Green Flood” for 41-13 victory

Plaquemine High flooded the color green all over the Lusher Charter Lion defense Friday night as the locals charged to an impressive 41-13 home opener victory at Green Devil Stadium.

Equally impressive was the fact the Green Devils were the only District 8-3A football club to win big on opening week of the 2010 season. Defending league champ and sixth-ranked St. James High was embarrassed by 1-A West St. John by a 20-6 score, while Donaldsonville High took heavy measure over hosting Brusly High by a 48-21 score. Albany High trimmed Livonia 9-7 in a contest between previous state playoff clubs, and Port Allen suffered a 21-0 home loss at the hands of 5-A Central High.

Plaquemine, at this point, looks to be the early frontrunner in the 8-3A race, but additional light should be shone on the Green Devils tomorrow (Friday) night when they go to Baton Rouge to face the hosting 4-A Glen Oaks Panthers, an expected district contender this season. Meanwhile, the PHS league foes also face strong second-week opponents, with the exception of Port Allen, which is idle. Brusly hit the road to play 2-A traditional power St. Thomas Aquinas in Hammond, while Livonia takes on 2-A power University Lab at LSU. St. James hosts 5-A power Westgate.

In post-game comments Saturday PHS Coach Bob Howell was cautious optimistic. “Our defense played very well overall. The defense is ahead of the offense in execution at this point in the season. We had flashes of good offensive play, especially with the big scoring runs we had. But, I thought we were inconsistent in sustaining long drives and executing crispy play to play. I see plenty of room for improvement and we should be able to get there as the season progresses. Like all coaches, I want to see us get better and better as we go along. We are not near the kind of late-season form we need to have to be a big winner,” explained Howell.

The PHS was quite aware that playing 4-A Glen Oaks in the BREC Memorial Stadium tomorrow night is a big step up from hosting a second-year football-playing 2-A Lusher Charter.

Friday night in the home opener the Green Devils did use a strong rushing attack and breakaway touchdowns runs to win the contest. PHS racked up 340 yards rushing, but hit on no passes out of six attempts and had one pass intercepted.

Plaquemine built up a 14-0 halftime lead on touchdown runs of 25 yards by quarterback Darvin Butler and 41 yards by halfback Hakeem