By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE — East St. John, St. Charles and West St. John concluded their 7-on-7 passing league season last Wednesday morning, with the Wildcats completing a perfect 20-0 campaign with a victory over Newman in the final game.

“There’s a lot of competition at this camp,” said ESJ junior quarterback Darion Monroe, who is slated to begin this coming season as the team’s new starting quarterback. “We have that rivalry with West St. John, St. Charles is always tough because they’re so disciplined. Newman gave us a challenge with their spread.

“Last year, we had one loss to St. Charles. This time, we were able to finish it out.”

Dauterive was very pleased with how his quarterback performed throughout the summer league, especially noting his accuracy and grasp of his offense.

“If he threw 100 passes, he might have thrown two bad ones today,” Dauterive said after his team’s 20-6 win over Newman. “He’s very accurate. I’m just glad I’m gonna have him here for a couple of seasons.”

Newman jumped on ESJ early in their game, after a pass was deflected by an ESJ defender and caught for a Greenie score.

But Monroe and the Wildcat offense got to work. He threw a touchdown to D’haquille Williams, then another to Rashad Green. On the team’s third possession, Williams played at quarterback, and completed all four of his passes, including a score to Dezmann Broussard. He added a point-after conversion throw to Andrew Taylor.

“He’s a freak,” Dauterive said of his standout receiver. “If anything were to happen to Darion, he’d be our quarterback. It would hurt our passing game, but he’s basically like a running back with the ball.”

St. Charles downed West St. John earlier in the day by the same 20-7 score.

Jeffrey Hall got the Comets on the board with a short touchdown run, making it 7-0. It grew to 14-0 after Savoie found Marcus Hall for a short touchdown pass.

West St. John answered briefly on a touchdown pass by quarterback Thaddeus Victor. But Savoie and Marcus Hall connected again on a deeper pass, setting up the team’s third touchdown, Savoie’s second touchdown pass to Marcus Hall on the day.

St. Charles coach Frank Monica said that he saw a lot of progress over the summer, but that more work is to be done.

“We improved overall from the first week. You get a lot of things from this kind of thing that you just can’t get from going against yourself in practice,” he said. “Differences in routes and coverage, replicating the speed you see from these teams, I could go on and on.

“I’m pleased with our progress, but it magnified our weaknesses. We have a better grasp of what we need to work on in camp. It showed me who is ready for primetime and who isn’t.”

Jarius Moll stayed at wide receiver for West St. John’s scrimmage with St. Charles as Thaddeus Victor and Austin Howard split reps at quarterback.

But WSJ coach Robert Valdez says Moll will not only play at quarterback, but at defensive back, kick returner and receiver this season.

He also was pleased at his team’s progression.

“I thought we made strides,” said Valdez. “This is probably the youngest team we’ve had here. We’re replacing 15 seniors. But now it’s about getting kids stronger, working with our conditioning before we kick this thing off.”

He noted some of the skill players that shined during 7-on-7, including receiver Denzel Pierre (“He’ll need to step up this year,” says Valdez), tailback Kylon Favorite (“He’s a good kid, definitely in the mix,”) and tailback Jeremy Jackson, an eighth grader (“He’s got that ‘It Factor’. He has a chance to be special”), among others.

EAST ST. JOHN BLISTERS ST. AUG — There were no pads or hitting in this rematch, but the Wildcats made a statement in a 94-36 victory over St. Augustine in a 7-on-7 passing scrimmage on Wednesday night at Joe Keller Memorial Stadium.

St. Augustine entered the game fresh off of a national championship win in the first Red Bull Game Breakers 7 on 7 tournament last month in Dallas, which started with a field of 72 teams.

But the Purple Knights had no answer for Monroe or receiver D’haquille Williams, who caught over 10 touchdown passes in the game.

“We were a machine,” said Dauterive, whose team fell to St. Augustine in the bi-district round of the Class 5A playoffs last season. “Darion’s like a little coach on the field. He and D’haquille were the clear highlights.

“The thing is, there are no pads, no tackling, but it’s a chance to test yourself against a team of high quality athletes. Our defense played so well.”