By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

In the midst of a sixth overtime, and his team trailing by one, East St. John Coach Larry Dauterive decided to end the madness.

In an attempt to cap off a crazy game that’s only the latest in a series of them between Hahnville and East St. John, Dauterive elected to go for a two point conversion with Hahnville leading 42-41. And as if there were any doubt, he was going to let his best weapon, running back Alex Singleton, decide the outcome.

A yard and a half later, Singleton made Dauterive look like a genius. And in the process, helped East St. John overcome No. 5 ranked Hahnville, by a 43-42 score at Joe Keller Stadium.

&#8220It was just a classic East St. John-Hahnville game,” said Dauterive. &#8220They’ll be talking about this one 30 years from now.”

Said Hahnville Coach Lou Valdin: &#8220We had five chances to win that game. We didn’t close the deal.”

Dauterive’s decision to go for two was made easier by a Tigers offsides penalty on East St. John’s first extra point attempt. The kick was good, but officals gave Dauterive the option to take the point off the board and go for the win.

&#8220We might still be playing if not for that penalty,” Dauterive said on Saturday. &#8220I knew that if it didn’t work, I’d be robbing the kids. But Alex punched it in, and the rest is history.”

&#8220I usually script two overtimes beforehand. I was out of bullets,” he said.

Singleton ran 31 times for 117 yards and four touchdowns, contributing to a final score that in no way represented the first 48 minutes of play.

The teams took a 0-0 tie into halftime. A 1-yard Singleton run in the third quarter put East St John ahead 7-0, and for awhile it looked like that score would hold.

But a fumble on an option play deep in Wildcats (5-4, 3-1) territory led to an 11-yard Lauren White score for Hahnville (7-2, 2-2) to tie the game.

With under a minute left in regulation, Hahnville had a chance to ice the game before any overtime period was reached. Ivory Washington returned a field goal/punt attempt from his own 44-yard line to the 28 of East St. John. Hahnville would set up a Brandon Larousse 27-yard field goal attempt with ten seconds left, which he missed. But Hahnville got a break when Larousse was roughed, and the penalty gave him a 22-yard shot.

&#8220I figured that might be it. You can’t give a good kicker two shots like that,” Dauterive said. &#8220That was a twist of fate, there.”

But East St. John’s special team’s made a play, blocking the second attempt.

In the first overtime, Andre Millet put ESJ ahead 7-0, via a 10-yard scoring run. But Hahnville’s Jai Steib answered with a 1-yard run to tie it up.

The second overtime saw a miraculous play, the biggest of the game for East St. John. With Hahnville scoring in the first O.T. and leading 21-14, the Tiger defense pushed the Wildcats back to its 28-yard line, leading to a 4th and 28. Millet was flushed from the pocket but bought some time, and threw a rocket into the endzone to David Hampton, who came up with it, tying the game at 21.

&#8220All we had to do was knock it down, and we didn’t,” said Valdin.

Singleton and White again traded touchdowns in the third overtime, White’s coming off a pass from B.J. Young. Steib would score a ten yarder in the fourth O.T., while Singleton answered with a two yarder of his own, making it 35-35.

Hahnville finally got a stop in the fifth overtime, but East St. John answered with one of its own.

Finally, Young found Blaise Dempster in the sixth overtime to make it 42-35 Hahnville. Singleton scored to draw within one, leading to Dauterive’s fateful decision.

Valdin’s defense has corralled a series of great rushers this season, and he knew coming in that Singleton was going to present a great threat.

&#8220We weren’t surprised by them at all. You come in knowing you have to tackle (Singleton), and he’s like Godzilla. Their defense had a good plan against our offense.”

East St. John’s win was a huge one for a team that has played perhaps more top ranked teams than any other in the state.

&#8220It is a historic win for our program,” said Dauterive. &#8220A lot of people were laughing when we started 1-3 against this schedule. We drew on that in this game. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and this slate of games has made us grow.

&#8220I love my team, and I love my kids resiliency.”