MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / October 20, 1999

RESERVE – East St. John finished up the non-district part of its schedulewith an impressive win at home against 17th-ranked Neville Friday night.

But Wildcat coach Ronnie Stephens knows that with three weeks left in the season, it’s come to get back to serious business.

“It wasn’t a pressure week,” Stephens said of the Neville game. “It wasn’tdistrict. We tried to go out there and get better. It’s now a three-gameschedule. We will take it one game at a time and hopefully we can continueto play well.”East St. John has played well as of late, out-scoring its last twoopponents by a score of 89-35. The Wildcats (4-3, 2-1 in District 7-5Aplay) will look to keep it up as they host Central Lafourche (3-4, 1-3) Friday night at Joe Keller Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.The game is also East St. John’s Homecoming.The Wildcats were led Friday by Chuckie Burl who carried 16 times for 143 yards and two touchdowns. Roydel Williams added 10 catches for 185yards and two scores.

Burl will have a chance to break the 1,000-yard mark for the season Friday after improving his totals for the year to 947 yards and nine touchdowns on 154 carries. Williams regained his spot at the top of RiverParishes receivers with 36 catches for 730 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Floyd Smith went over the 900-yard mark in passing for the season Friday.

“The kids played hard,” Stephens said. “Offensively, defensively, kickinggame, we had no breakdowns that hurt us. I’m proud of the way we played.”Central Lafourche is coming off a 24-13 loss to Thibodaux last Friday. TheTrojans were held to 100 yards in total offense, 19 on the ground. DariusGriffin, one of the leading rushers in the district, was held to 25 yards on 11 carries but did score on a 63-yard pass from Andy Griffin.

The Trojans will look to control the ball out of the I formation led by Darius Griffin. The defense is headed by Chris Hecker at tackle and ShaneEschete and Jason Stoddard in the backfield.

“It’s Homecoming so we have to be ready to play and stay focused,” Stephens said. “They have a big front line and the capability to throw thefootball. If we don’t swarm around the football and tackle well, they cancontrol the football and keep our offense off the field.”East St. John travels to South Terrebonne next week in District 7-5 action.

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