By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE — East St. John’s boys soccer team has dealt with reshuffled lineups, a youth movement and a difficult schedule to begin the 2012 soccer season.

But as District 8-I play gets rolling, the Wildcats look at it as a chance for a new start, a chance to earn a postseason berth; the first step toward that came Tuesday in a 2-0 victory over Higgins.

Greg Burnett and Sisavath Paneyanuvong each scored goals for the Wildcats in the win, which put them at a split in district play.

East St. John (2-12, 1-1) fell to Ehret last week, 4-3.

“We’ve got a lot of young, inexperienced guys,” said East St. John coach Paul Dupuy. “And it seems like we’ve had one or two out every game, which hurts when you’re trying to build chemistry.”

Dupuy said his team won Tuesday’s game by continuing to attack.

“They fought hard,” said Dupuy. “We missed a lot of goals where we were right there, one on one … maybe almost too open to the point you over think it.

“But eventually, we got that second goal and kinda separated ourselves.”

In the loss to Ehret, Burnett scored two goals and Tony Warren scored another for East St. John.

In that game, the Wildcats were missing three starters, as they were participating in that Friday night’s Bayou/River Region All-Star football game.

“This year was always going to be something of a learning experience for us,” said Dupuy. “We’ve got a lot of freshman and sophomores out there getting playing time. We’ve played some tough, ranked teams that will only help us going forward.”

District play will determine East St. John’s ultimate fate. A first or second place finish would mean a playoff berth.

“We won’t get in through out record, so we need to finish in the top two,” said Dupuy. “We’re in a must win situation. The good thing about playing a tough early schedule is it not only prepares us better for the long term, but for our district play. We’ve already been challenged.”

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