By RYAN ARENA
Sports Editor

East St. John encountered a rough beginning to district play on Monday night, as it fell to East Ascension 10-2.

“We didn’t play well defensively,” said East St. John Coach Paul Dupuy. “Guys are too focused on trying to score, and not on supporting one another out defensively.”

The Spartans (11-4-2, 1-0) led 4-1 at halftime. East St. John (7-6, 0-1) scored its second goal shortly after halftime to pull within two goals. But after EA converted on a penalty kick to make it 5-2, the wheels came off the Wildcats’ wagon.

Dupuy says that until his young team understands that athleticism isn’t enough, results like Mondays cannot become a thing of the past.

“(East Ascension’s) coach was impressed with the individual skills and speed of our guys,” Dupuy said. “The problem comes in us not playing together. When another team scores a goal, we tend to fall apart.”

Antonio Guerrero and Dechris Strong each scored a goal for ESJ.

The Spartans scored their first goal 10 minutes into the game.

“For 10 minutes, we looked really good. But not so much after that,” Dupuy said. “A lot of the goals they scored we could have stopped if we had worked together.”

SHORTHANDED WILDCATS DROP TWO AT TOURNAMENT: East St. John fell twice to powerful teams at the Baton Rouge City Tournament this past weekend, losing 5-0 to St. Thomas Aquinas (9-2-2) and 5-0 to New Iberia (16-4-3).

East St. John was missing a number of players due to the holidays, and competed with only 11 players, some from the JV.

East St. John notched a 1-0 win Saturday at the tournament over the East Ascension junior varsity.

Tremond McQuarter scored the winning goal for ESJ.