By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

GONZALES – East St. John hung tough for a half on Friday night, but fell to district foe East Ascension 9-1 after a six goal second half performance by the hosting Spartans.

Joe Perrilloux scored the lone goal for ESJ, which came in the first half and tied the score at 1-1. He converted a header off of a corner kick.

The Wildcats (5-12-3, 1-5) nearly took a 2-1 lead when DeChris Strong popped in an apparent goal, but the Wildcats were whistled for being offsides.

Instead, East Ascension (10-3-3, 5-1) would score twice before halftime, establishing clear control of the match.

“What frustrated me was that to beat East Ascension, you have to be patient,” said East St. John coach Paul Dupuy. “If you focus on defense, and you keep things close, then you might see them start to get frustrated and out of their game.

“But when we fell behind, I think we panicked. We started pushing up on defense and leaving openings. And East Ascension…they’re opportunistic. If you press them, they make you pay.”

Dupuy credited his players for playing strong soccer throughout most of the first half against such an accomplished squad, but chalked up the second half impatience to youth.

“If we get that goal by DeChris, it very well could have been a different game. We changed our approach once we got behind by two,” Dupuy said. “But when you’ve got young guys, the emotion of it comes into play.”

Last Tuesday, the Wildcats dropped a 3-1 decision to St. Amant in Reserve.

Strong scored the lone goal for ESJ, which tied the match at 1-1 in the first half. But St. Amant (13-8-3, 2-3) answered back with a score almost a minute later.

“We had some opportunities and scrapped, but we just missed on some of our better chances,” said Dupuy.

Through a round of district play, ESJ has collected only one win. But the Wildcats’ matches have been more competitive this year than last, having already upset Destrehan, falling by only a goal to Hahnville, and staying in things strong clubs like against St. Amant and fifth ranked Dutchtown.

“We’re definitely playing better soccer now,” said Dupuy. “We’re in such a strong district. But we’ll see how much better we’ve become in this second round. We’ll need people to step up.”