By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE – East St. John downed Riverside for the second time this season, 5-1, at Riverside Monday. But the Wildcats fell to 0-2 in district play last Thursday, falling 4-1 to Dutchtown.

Leroy Noble and Andrew Alexander led the way for ESJ against the Rebels, each scoring a pair of goals. Thaddeus Knight rounded out the ESJ scoring.

Beau Gaudet scored Riverside’s lone goal.

ESJ coach Paul Dupuy was pleased with his team’s ability to bounce back from its first two losses of the season.

He noted Noble as a player who has flashed plenty of potential, and one who saw it come to fruition Monday.

“He has a lot of ability,” said Dupuy. “Recently there was a game where he had a lot of chances, took a lot of shots, but just couldn’t finish it off. This time, he did. He can do a lot of fancy footwork with the ball, now it’s a matter of maturing as a player. He’s got a lot of natural ability that helps this team.”

Dechris Strong scored the Wildcats’ lone goal against Dutchtown.

“It’s something that caused us to look a our alignments, and we’re moving DeChris around to get him in better position, to get him more involved” said Dupuy.

“We want to make it tougher for teams to double him.”

Strong’s goal tied the game, but Dutchtown answered and stole the momentum back.“They took advantage of that momentum shift,” said Dupuy.

The Wildcats now stand at 8-2-3 overall, 0-2 in district play.