DESTREHAN — There have been some epic battles between East St. John High and Destrehan over the years.

Friday night’s District 7-5A battle of the Wildcats is going down as another great one.

East St. John certainly did its best to spoil Destrehan’s homecoming. After ending regulation tied at 28, East St. John scored on its first overtime possession when wide receiver Javon Antonio outjumped his defenders to grab a 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Duke Crosby.

But Crosby’s pass for the 2-point conversion attempt fell incomplete, leaving East St. John with a 34-28 lead.

Destrehan’s first play in overtime set off another East St. John celebration when it appeared Antonio stole the ball from Destrehan running back John Emery at the 10. The officials ruled the play dead, however, and East St. John was assessed 10 yards for holding.

Then Destrehan faked everyone out.

While most in the stadium expected Emery to get the call, Destrehan quarterback JR Blood found Carson Reider all alone at the back of the end zone for the game-tying touchdown. Then, Phillip Stratton, who had missed a 24-yard field goal with seconds remaining in regulation, kicked the extra point to put the exclamation point on another wild cat fight, 35-24, between the two River Parishes rivals.

The two teams combined for 672 yards. Destrehan used its usual ground game — meaning, running back John Emery, who ran 29 times for 195 yards and two touchdowns.

Blood passed for 145 yards and a pair of touchdowns, one to Carl Lewis and the other to Amauchechukwu “Amoochie” Nnaji-Collins.

East St. John trusted its quarterback, Crosby, who led the rushing game with 95 yards and one touchdown. He also was 15 of 36 for 220 yards passing and three touchdowns. He connected with Shelvin Keller on an 18-yard score in the second quarter and with Kyle Henderson on a 21-yard pass in the fourth.

That score, plus Prentis Cook’s run for the 2-point conversion, put East St. John ahead 28-21 with 7:58 remaining in regulation.

Destrehan came right back with an 8-play, 87 yard drive – perhaps the Wildcats’ most impressive of the night.

After Blood connected with Quincy Brown on a 38-yard pass that got his team into East St. John territory, Emery zigged and zagged his way into the end zone from the 3. Stratton’s PAT kick tied the game at 28 with 5:33 remaining.

East St. John tried to muster a final regulation drive, but a flurry of false start penalties hurt the visiting Wildcats and they stalled at midfield.

Destrehan took over at its own 20 with 1:29 and drove to the East St. John 11. With 9 seconds remaining, Destrehan coach Stephen Robicheaux sent Stratton out to attempt a 24-yard field goal. Even with a bobbled snap, the kick was good, but East St. John coach Alden Foster had called time out just in time.

Stratton lined up for another try but, under pressure from East St. John, missed, sending the game into overtime.

WSJH – 62, Houma Christian – 0

The West St. John High Rams turned in another dominant performance, handing Houma Christian it first loss of the season, 62-0.

The victory came exactly a week after WSJH (4-2, 2-0) topped White Castle 61-6.

This weekend;s game seemed easily in hand after a few minutes as the Rams racked up a huge 33-0 lead after one quarter.

The defense didn’t allow a first down in the first 12 minutes and the offense scored on multiple one-play possessions.

Offensive stars included Covan Barnes, Niko Davis, Kylan Duhe, Trenton Grow and D’Andre Gaudia.

SCC – 45, Lusher – 0

St. Charles Catholic’s defense asserted itself Friday night, going on the road and shutting out Lusher Charter School, 45-0 in New Orleans.

SCC put up 13 points in the first quarter and 24 points in the second quarter to secure a game that was moved up an hour in start time due to impending weather associated with Hurricane Nate.

The win improves the Comets’ record to 5-1 and 1-0 in District 10-3A. The loss drops Lusher’s record to 3-3 with an ugly two-week losing streak to Newman and SCC by a combined score of 89-0.

St. Charles Catholic was led on offensive by Phillip Tran, who scored two rushing touchdowns in the first quarter.

Tran got the scoring going again a quarter later when he tallied his team’s third touchdown via a reception from quarterback Sutton Bourgeois. Tran wasn’t done, as he scored touchdown No. 4 via run for the Comets’ fourth score.

Other scores included a Bourgeois touchdown pass to Randall Campbell, Cameron Fabre field goal, Joe Chiarella touchdown run and defensive safety.

Tran was dominant, with 143 rushing yards and 74 receiving yards.

Bourgeois finished with 105 passing yards on five of five passing attempts.

Lusher finished with just 27 yards of total offense.