By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE – St. James wasn’t supposed to rebuild this quickly.
But Wildcats’ head coach Dwain Jenkins wasn’t keen about waiting around for the future. And, apparently, neither was his freshman quarterback.
St. James hadn’t won a game in its previous two seasons heading into 2013, but it won its second playoff game of the year Friday night, holding on to best Sterlington, 42-40, at St. James.
A Sterlington 29-yard field goal attempt fell no good as time expired to clinch the win for SJH.
No. 22 St. James (6-6) advances to the Class 2A quarterfinals to face No. 3 Kinder.
Lowell Narcisse had his third straight sensational game, the quarterback accounting for five touchdowns. He completed 16 of 28 passes for 256 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 96 yards and two scores on 21 carries. He was not intercepted.
His favorite target was D’kwan Sandolph, who continued his monster season by hauling in eight receptions for 193 yards and two touchdowns. The former quarterback also passed for a score. Camrin Grows also hauled in two touchdown passes.
The Wildcats overcame a powerful Sterlington rushing attack, one that accumulated 510 yards on the ground. For the second straight week, St. James was outgained in total yardage – this time 526 to 369 – but overcame it to move on.
Sterlington was led by running back Jaylen Wade, who rushed 27 times for 293 yards and three touchdowns.
The key was a 28-point second quarter barrage by St. James that gave the Wildcats a 35-14 lead at half. Narcisse accounted for all four scores, rushing for two and hitting Sandolph and Grows for touchdowns of 33 and 5 yards respectively.
Sterlington (8-4) scored 28 of the final 35 points in the game, finally cutting the SJH lead to 2 with 6:39 left to play. But the Wildcats held on from there.
The winning score proved to be Narcisse’s 75-yard touchdown strike to Sandolph with less than a minute left in the third quarter.