SUMMER SCHOOL

Published 12:00 am Monday, June 5, 2006

Football practice gets underway at East St. John High

By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

With school out, and many throughout the parish beginning to plan what to do with the Summer, ESJ football coach Larry Dauterive and his squad have it all laid out: hitting the gridiron.

&#8220It’s like a heavyweight fight,” said Dauterive. &#8220This district [5-5A] is arguably the toughest district in the state. Last season was the first time in 25 years that we outright won a district championship. You can’t take a step back, you got to keep pounding because the game is so fast on this level.”

So it’s back to work for the Wildcats to prepare for the Spring season. Through four years at East St. John, Dauterive has compiled a 36-11 record and made the playoffs in each of those years. Last season he coached the team to a 9-2 record and went undefeated through district play. He has helped to produce 21 college signees including national prospects Ryan Perrilloux and Ricky Dixon in the last two years. And he thinks that there are going to be a few more coming out pretty soon.

&#8220Everybody in America is after [Linebacker] Stefoin Francois,” he said. &#8220All the big schools: LSU, Florida State, Miami, Alabama, Texas A&M – they all want him. And Alex Singleton, a sophomore is another oneŠ he’s 6’2” and 215 lbs. He had a tremendous Spring. He’s really hard to tackle.”

For the upcoming Spring, the Wildcats have their backfield returning to a squad that made it to the 5A quarterfinals last season. Running backs Johnny Owen and Joshuelle Tuesno will be seniors, as will be QB Johnnie Thiel, who combined for about 3,000 yards in the wide open offense. The loss of all but one starter on the offensive line, combined with the graduation of their top three receivers looks to give this team a good bit of a different look than last year’s squad.

&#8220Our offense is gonna have to grow up in a hurry to be successful,” said Dauterive.

But the defense seems to have grown a bit as evident from their intra-squad scrimmage where the offense was shut out in the second half of a 32-14 win for the defense. Dauterive said the improved defense, in combination with returning All-State kicker from ’05 Radi Jabour, who will be place kicking on punts since he can boot the ball 60-plus yards, should help with field position.

&#8220Not many teams are going to be able to drive 80 yards on our defense. So a kicker like Radi hopefully will give us that short field.”

The coach already has been hard at work getting things prepared for the Summer drills, having begun workouts with his quarterbacks this passed week, and putting many of his starters on the weightroom regiment to build strength and conditioning.

As for getting the Summer practice sessions started, Dauterive seems ready to take the field. He dismisses he notion that summertime is vacation-time for school workers.

&#8220That thing about three months off is bull,” he said. &#8220There ain’t no time off where I’m at. We don’t stop.”