By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

RESERVE – With Gatorade baths all around, East St. John took their second consecutive district title and their first undefeated season in more than a quarter century.

&#8220These kids really worked for it,” said ESJ coach Larry Dauterive. &#8220We got a chance over here to do something so we’re gonna see how far this can go. We won most of our games by twenty or more points except for that one against Rummel so we think we can score as much as anyone. Maybe this will finally be the year.”

The Wildcats had to wait until the final week of the season to play Destrehan, whose Wildcat squad was also undefeated and holding on to hopes of a 5-5A district title. And for a few minutes, it looked like DHS would challenge them.

Destrehan came up with a golden opportunity when Trey Watkins intercepted a pass on ESJ‘s first possession, giving DHS the ball inside the ESJ five-yard line. But Destrehan could get nothing going against the East St. John defense and attempted a field goal that missed the mark.

After that, it was all ESJ.

The home team scored on their next possession with one of Johnny Owen’s four touchdowns on the night. Owen rushed for nearly half of ESJ’s 492 yards of offense and capped off an 80-yard drive with a ten-yarder that went for a 7-0 score.

In the second quarter, ESJ’s Johnnie Thiel sparked the team with a pair of touchdowns, the first with a ten-yard pass to David Hampton and the second a 14-yard quarterback run. That sent ESJ into halftime with a 21-0 score.

After the break, East St. John rode Owen to three more touchdowns on runs of 76, 1 and 14 yards proving that he is a threat from anywhere on the field. That drove the score to 42-0 with the fourth quarter running out which is when Destrehan finally got on the board with a 51-yard bomb for a touchdown from QB Ramaal Ellis to receiver Demarius Johnson.