LUTCHER, La. — Turnover in the trenches was an area of concern following the Lutcher Bulldogs 2021 season.
“We had graduated probably one of the best offensive lines that we had had here, ever. We had five seniors out of the six guys that played for us. Two of them went on to play at Nicholls. So, we lose all five of those guys, so you’ve got to replace five of them. We had one senior, Donovan Arbuthnot, whose the one returning starter from last year and we play six offensive linemen throughout the year. So, the other five guys are all new,” says Lutcher head football coach Dwain Jenkins.
As the lone returning starter on the Lutcher offensive line, Donovan Arbuthnot, and fellow seniors, Devin Leblanc and Ben Clement, put in countless work to erase any doubt.
“It was a motivation that I didn’t want, want us to look bad, that I wanted us to still look like we, even though everyone left, all our seniors, all our experience was gone. That we still knew what we were doing on a fundamental level. That our skills were still sharp, and that everything was still gonna work out,” says Lutcher senior Donovan Arbuthnot.
As the Bulldogs’ season progressed, so did the offensive line.
Their collective mindset helped the Lutcher offense become one of the most lethal in Division II non-select.
“We go by something called bully ball and you bully the other team, move them how you want ’em to move,” says Lutcher senior Devin Leblanc.
Richie Mills: Describe the feeling when it’s happening. You know, when, when you know you’re successfully doing it. What’s that feeling like?
“It’s just like everybody on the team is just, it’s just hype. It just gets you more hype as you’re going on. It just makes you play harder and score more points and it just feels good that you’re doing something effective,” responded Leblanc.
That’s evident in the success the Bulldogs have had running the ball.
Quarterback D’Wanye Winfield has accounted for over 2,300 yards and 37 rushing touchdowns and the Lutcher offense is averaging 43 points per game.
“It’s pretty fun having your quarterback with all these rushing yards and nobody really knows. But, you know, deep down that the o line’s part of the reason why he’s got all that,” says Lutcher senior Ben Clement.
“That’s one of the things lunch talked about kind of throughout the preseason was he knew he would get headlines throughout the year, but he wanted his teammates to, to get some of that same attention cuz he saw how hard they were working and he knew the best way to do that was for us to win. And now some of those guys are getting recognized for all of the efforts that they’ve put in throughout their four years of high school,” says Jenkins.
Lutcher’s Donovan Arbuthnot, Devin Leblanc, and Ben Clement, our offensive linemen of the week brought to you by Lone Wolf Renovations.