By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

RESERVE — When Riverside stumbled out to a 3-9 mark to begin its season, few would likely have expected this year’s L’Observateur All-St. John Parish team to  be headed by a pair of Rebel representatives. Likewise, when St. Charles Catholic entered the season with a largely overturned roster, a six-win improvement didn’t appear in the cards. 

But the prep season is full of surprises and things can quickly turn. The Rebels won 15 of their last 17 games to finish 20-10 (an early loss was turned to a win via forfeiture) with a trip to the Class 2A semifinals. Leading the charge was freshman Mason Vicknair and coach Matt White, the 2014 St. John Parish MVP and co-Coach of the Year, respectively. Meanwhile, St. Charles marched to the semifinals and a 24-win season; as a result, Wayne Stein shares Coach of the Year honors with White in Stein’s debut season as Comets head coach. 

Vicknair began the season hot as a pitcher and quickly emerged as Riverside’s ace, finishing the year with a 7-1 record, 3.55 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 61 innings pitched. But he truly turned heads at the plate. Vicknair’s batting average (.429), home run (7) and RBI totals (36) each led St. John Parish. He also scored 28 runs and posted victories in two postseason games, helping lift the Rebs into the semifinals.

White, meanwhile, captures the Coach of the Year honor for the second time in the past three seasons, this time under very different circumstances: White and Riverside parted ways last week when the school elected to not renew his contract, and White has since accepted the vacant head coaching position at East St. John. 

In his final year with the Rebels, White led Riverside to its second state tournament in three years, the Rebels bowing out 8-5 to Kinder in the 2A semifinals in Sulphur. 

When St. Charles lost five seniors to graduation from its 2013 team, coach Wayne Stein had a lot of positions to fill on the fly as he transitioned into the head coaching job, Stein taking over for longtime coach Paul Waguespack.  

But not only did new faces fill those positions, they thrived under Stein’s watch: SCC posted a team ERA of 1.69 while six Comets hit over .316 this season.

St. Charles Catholic churned out an even stronger season than last, winning 24 games and reaching the state quarterfinals.

The Comets are represented by an All-Parish-high five players this year: seniors Connor Western (.416 BA) Mason Bordelon (79 strikeouts in 69.2 innings), Kameron Keller (.392 BA), B.J. Waguespack (1.58 ERA) and Connor Smith (25 RBIs). 

Two other Rebels make the squad as well. Tyler Gauthier (.398 average) and T.J. St. Pierre (.380) each earn spots after comprising a super-charged top of the batting order for Riverside. 

West St. John sees Austin Howard represent its school. 

Howard hit .465 and went 6-3 on the mound this season, leading the Rams into the postseason. 

East St. John’s Ahmani Martin (20 runs scored) rounds out the team, the ESJ shortstop earning a spot after batting .333 in 2014.