By Ryan Jones

Special to L’Observateur

Heading into Friday night’s match up against Carencro, East St. John (5-0) knew exactly what the Bears’ offensive plan of attack would be. For at least one half of football, however, it didn’t matter.

Through two quarters of play, Carencro directed a methodical Wing-T attack at the Wildcats defense to moderate success. The high-powered ESJ offense, however, finally finished off the Bears in the second half 53-28 in a battle of highly contrasting offensive styles.

“I’m disappointed in the way we played defense tonight,” East St. John head coach Larry Dauterive said. “The competition will eventually step up, and we can’t give up that many points because won’t score every time we have the ball.”

Though the Wildcats scored 28 points and averaged over 10 yards-per-play in the first half, their defense couldn’t quite keep up. Carencro, the second Wing-T offense that ESJ has faced this season, racked up three touchdowns and 198 yards of total offense in the first half, all of them on the ground.

The Bears’ effective if predictable style was on full display during the team’s last scoring drive of the first half. Carencro ran the football on ten straight plays during an 84-yard scoring drive that tied the score at 21 points apiece with 1:45 remaining in the first half. The Wildcats, however, quickly responded with a touchdown of their own, ending a 59-second scoring drive with a 30-yard touchdown catch by senior wide receiver D’haquille Williams, who caught the ball despite being hounded by three Bears defenders.

The East St. John offense was bolstered throughout the game by the outstanding play of duel threat junior quarterback Darion Monroe, who finished the game with 187 passing yards and two touchdowns on 9 of 11 passing to compliment 65 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Three of his rushing touchdowns came in the first half.

“We have a plethora of weapons, and we have a trigger man that can get it to them,” Dauterive said. “He’s very good at what he does. For a first-year quarterback, he is phenomenal. He makes the right decisions and throws the ball on the money.”

As has been the case all season, Monroe’s weapon of choice was Williams, who pushed his season receiving total to more than 500 yards with five receptions, 105 yards and one touchdown against the Bears. Williams gave the Wildcats a comfortable two-score cushion to begin the third quarter after he returned the opening second half kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown.

The East St. John offense, which is now averaging over 40 points per contest, finished the game with more than 400 yards of total offense, distributed fairly evenly between passing and rushing yardage.

“We had a good performance offensively,” Dauterive said. “I think at one point we had eight series and scored on six. We had a fumble on the first drive, and we threw that interception which was as good as a punt.”

The final score of the night came with Carencro inside the ESJ 10 yard line as senior cornerback Floyd Raven ripped the ball out of a Bears runner’s hands and returned the fumble 93 yards for a touchdown.

East St. John will look to extend their winning streak to six games next Friday as the team begins district play at St. Amant.

We have a challenge ahead of us,” Dauterive said. “But for now, we’re going to enjoy this victory, and we’re going to get back to work tomorrow.