By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

East St. John’s coaches and players got the red carpet treatment on Sunday night – quite literally, in fact.

The Wildcats arrived at the Palace 20 theatre in Harahan on Sunday night for the screening of Franklin Martin’s documentary “Walking on Dead Fish”, a film that presents the East St. John football team coping with post-Katrina life.

Each player got to walk down a red carpet to pick up his ticket as part of the official celebration of the film’s release.

The showing was completely sold out.

“It was really well-received,” said Wildcats Coach Larry Dauterive. Johnny Owen, Stanley Jackson, and their families were all there. They got to speak.

“The word of mouth has been good and the message is getting out. I’m just glad we’re a part of it.”

The film’s successful opening weekend means that it has been extended through next weekend, and will be shown all throughout this week.

It deals with the impact Katrina had on East St. John, which took in 450 new students and 20 new members of its football team. It delves into relationships between players, many of whom competing for the same positions, and what the players dealt with both on and off the field.

“There were some tears shed, and also some laughs at my expense,” Dauterive said.

The East St. John community wasn’t the only one out to see the film.

“I saw people from Riverside, St. Charles, and Destrehan there today,” Dauterive said.

The screening also might have come at a fine time for the 2008 Wildcats, who are preparing to host defending 4A champion Bastrop this Friday night – and will be trying to put a 46-game Rams winning streak to an end.

“It really inspired the kids. We had a fantastic practice today,” Dauterive said.

And he could understand why.

“I’m usually exhausted on Sundays. But seeing (the film) really got me revved up.”