By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

Coping with a rash of injuries, East St. John Coach Paul Dupuy had to rely on youth and inexperience in his Wildcats district clash at Dutchtown last Friday night. The Griffins took full advantage, dealing East St. John its second district loss this season by a score of 4-0.

“We had too many problems defensively,” Dupuy said. “Some of our defenders haven’t had a lot of game action. Dutchtown took advantage.”

Dutchtown (7-6-3, 2-0) led 2-0 at halftime.

Dupuy said that the Griffins were able to stretch the Wildcat defense by pulling East St. John’s (5-5, 0-2) more experienced players outside, then attacking the middle of the defense successfully.

“They basically used our inexperience against us,” Dupuy said. “That is one of the toughest team’s we’ve faced.”The loss was the fourth straight for East St. John, who now finds itself looking up from the bottom of the district standings.

“It’s sobering to be 0-2 in the district right now,” said Dupuy. “It’s a tough place to be. It reaffirms just how tough this district is.”

East St. John resumed play yesterday at the Baton Rouge Tournament at Woodlawn and will continue today. On Wednesday, East St. John’s third clash of the district season comes as it travels to Destrehan.

Dupuy hopes that his team can turn it around as district season starts to get in full swing.

“We played hard (against Dutchtown), we just need to play smarter,” Dupuy said. “It all comes with experience.”