Acadiana Battles Destrehan For The 5A State Championship – Game Preview

The Acadiana Wreckin' Rams (10-4) will board the bus one last time in 2014 to travel to New Orleans for the State Championship game.

Whether or not Coach Davidson is or isn't a fan of Willie Nelson doesn't change the fact that a famous Nelson song has become a bit of a reality for the Rams. "On the Road Again" has certainly been a theme to this season.

Acadiana has traveled in nine of their fifteen games; they have been to three of the four corners of the State of Louisiana with a trip to Shreveport, two to Lake Charles and three to New Orleans.  All told, the Wreckin' Rams will have traveled over 1,800 miles when the bus pulls back in to Acadiana High School on Sunday morning.

Last week, the Wreckin Rams were in a defensive struggle with the Zachary Broncos (12-2).  A Kevin Moore touchdown run of 39 yards, in which he broke at least 6 tackles, was the only touchdown of the game.  (Go to max preps and take a look at the run; it is worth your time.)

The Terrible Turks would limit Zachary's high scoring offense to just one field goal in the first quarter, and come up with three interceptions in the second half to procure the victory for the Wreckin' Rams.

Destrehan (14-0) advanced to the State Championship game with a 27-22 win over West Monroe (11-3).  The Wildcats opened up a 21-3 lead at halftime, then watched the Rebels storm back with 19 points in the 3rd quarter. The game winning touchdown came when Will Matthews earned his second 2 yard scoring run of the game.

The Wildcats and Wreckin' Rams are no strangers to each other, having met in the 2007 State Championship game, with Destrehan winning 42-21, and in last year's State Semi-Finals, with Acadiana winning 35-7.

Destrehan is led by running back Will Matthews. Matthews 1,814 yards rushing on the year, to go with 24 touchdowns, a long run of 96 yards, and an impressive average of 8.4 yards per carry.

When the Wildcats throw, they are led by Arizona State commitment WR Alfred Smith (42 catches, 563 yards, 7 touchdowns, 13.4 yards per catch).  The Wildcats offensive line goes, 6-1 265, 5-10 200, 6-0 280, 6-0 245, and 5-11 225.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Wildcats are led by a very active group of linebackers.  Alex Zayed leads the team with 70.5 tackles, followed by Scott Brandon with 65.5 tackles, Allen Pittman with 63.5 tackles and Tyjohn Sanchez with 52.5 tackles.  The Wildcats run a 3-4 defense with their defensive line going 6-5 310, 6-3 305, and 5-10 275.  That's an average of 6-2 297 pounds.  Some big men for the Wreckin' Ram offensive line to push.

The pre game show will begin one hour prior to kickoff, approximate kick is at 7:00 p.m.; however, this will be the third game of the day and could kickoff later.  The game can be heard over the air on ESPN1420 on the AM dial in the Acadiana area, on the internet at espn1420.com, and on the free smart phone app RadioPup.