By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

In what was a battle of two high-powered running games, one generated enough big plays to garner a huge District 5-5A win on Friday night.

And East St. John Coach Larry Dauterive couldn’t believe that his was not the one to do it.

When Dutchtown’s Eddie Lacy raced up the sideline for a 23-yard touchdown with 13 seconds left, the Griffins clinched a 38-25 win at home over East St. John, clinching it in the same fashion it succeeded with all night — with a big play through the running game.

Dutchtown (6-0, 2-0), now the No. 5 ranked team in Class 5A, got big play after big play on the ground, getting to the outside on the Wildcat defense in a way that nobody had this season — not Acadiana, not Bastrop.

“I never dreamed we’d give up those kinds of big plays. Those killed us,” said Dauterive. “But we’ve got no one else to blame for anything. My hat’s off to Dutchtown.”

Dutchtown’s Effrem Reed carried eight times for 136 yards and a touchdown. Eddie Lacy ran 18 times for 117 yards and two touchdowns. And the Griffins ran for almost 300 yards as a team, topping out at 298.

Reed’s performance was an eye-opener. While Lacy and Kelvin York grabbed most of the headlines entering this season, Reed is proved himself to be a major factor in his own right.

“I think (having three viable runners) makes us dangerous,” said Dutchtown Coach Benny Saia. “Everyone comes in and wants to stop Kelvin and Eddie, but Effrem showed that he’s a pretty good player himself.”

East St. John’s Alex Singleton rushed 13 times for 90 yards and scored three touchdowns. Todd Muse added 52 yards and a score.

The game was a far cry from the tempo of a year ago, when the Wildcats outlasted the Griffins 17-14 in a defensive slugfest.

“We weren’t playing good enough defensively,” said Dauterive. “Anytime you give up that many, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.”

“I hope it means we’re both better than last year,” Saia said. “East St. John’s got so many weapons in so many places. You hold your breath when they have the ball.”

The eventual game-winning score proved to be a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Wesley Perkins with 6:03 left in the game. That made it 31-19, and put East St. John (2-3, 1-1) behind the eight ball. It was set up by a 57-yard run by Lacy, who busted through the middle of the line, then cut back in the open field. He reached the 11, and Perkins scored three plays later.

The Wildcats needed to score quickly, and would — at least, where it counted for them. ESJ took 10 plays for Singleton to lunge through the line and score a 3-yard touchdown, but he did it at the 3:45 mark of the fourth. The Wildcats took only 2:18 to score, working a fast-paced drive and making good use of the sidelines to stop the clock.

The Wildcats attempted an onside kick, but Dutchtown’s Cody Vicknair recovered. ESJ needed a stop, but Reed got 26-yards on a second-down misdirection run with 2:29 remaining. Four plays later, Lacy scored to ice the game.

ESJ led 7-3 when Lacy cashed in on a Wildcats miscue — the Griffins recovered a fumbled Wildcats’ snap at the 50, and Lacy scored from 17 yards away seven plays later with 7:02 remaining in the second quarter.

Dauterive reached into his extensive bag of tricks though on the ensuing ESJ possession. Singleton ran for 32 yards, which set up ESJ on the Dutchtown 38. Quarterback Kalen Henderson pitched to Andre Millet, but Millet scrambled and passed back to Henderson down at the Griffins’ 4.

(See ESJ, Page 12A)

Singleton scored his second touchdown of the day, making it 13-10 with 5:24 left in the first half. The extra point was no good.

Dutchtown answered back in nine plays, marching 72 yards for a touchdown, capped off when Reed broke a 20-yard run to the endzone. That made it 17-13 with 2:23 remaining in the first half.

The lead changed hands again on ESJ’s first possession of the second half. The wildcats drove 55 yards and scored on a Todd Muse 7-yard run.

But the two-point attempt was no good, and the score was 19-17 with 7:15 left in the third quarter.

It was ESJ’s last lead of the game. East St. John had Dutchtown pinned back on a third-and-16 on the ESJ 38.

But Reed busted a 32-yard run to the Wildcats’ 5. York ran for four, and Perkins scored on a sneak to make it 24-19, giving his team the lead for good.

“”We’ve just got to get back and keep battling,” said East St. John offensive tackle Patrick Lewis. “We can still come out on top in district if things shuffle around our way.”