Much has changed at East St. John since the last time it faced off with Destrehan.
The two teams squared off in Reserve for a regional round playoff matchup on Nov. 21 of last year, Destrehan following a bi-district blowout of Pineville and East St. John fresh off a first round upset win at John Ehret. East St. John had hopes of challenging the then-undefeated top contenders after pushing DHS in district play; ESJ led 14-0 in their first 2014 meeting before Destrehan scored 28 unanswered points.
But nothing went right for East St. John in the rematch. Destrehan rushed out to an early lead, and East St. John lost LSU committed quarterback Xavier Lewis to a hamstring injury. When the smoke cleared, Destrehan was walking out of Reserve with a 68-14 victory. Days later, East St. John coach Phillip Banko was relieved of his duties, eventually replaced by former Amite coach Alden Foster. Destrehan went on to finish as Class 5A’s runner-up.
East St. John (0-5, 0-2) is winless since that regional game, now 0-5 after a 45-32 loss at home to Thibodaux last week. Destrehan (5-0, 2-0), meanwhile, is in the midst of an undefeated regular season once again, and will attempt to keep that streak going when it hosts ESJ this Friday night.
Much of the attention in the game will center around ESJ quarterback Marquise Darensbourg. Darensbourg quarterbacked at Destrehan last season and went 14-0 as a starter while splitting time with then-backup and current DHS starter Kohen Granier. After a strong semifinal effort in Destrehan’s victory over West Monroe, DHS coach Stephen Robicheaux and his staff tabbed Granier the starter in the Class 5A title game against Acadiana.
Not long after that, Darensbourg transferred to East St. John. A dispute about eligibility cost him the first four games of this season, but Darensbourg was back in the lineup in Week Five against Thibodaux, a week that saw ESJ score a season-high 32 points, 11 more than its previous high this season. Darensbourg passed for two touchdowns and rushed for another in the game.
“I think he’s a great kid,” Robicheaux said. “I have a lot of respect for Marquise. He’s a good player and he had a lot of success here. It’ll be an interesting thing for us to play against him. We have a job to do and that’s to go out and get a win, but at the same time, I wish him all the luck in the world.”
East St. John led 25-17 last week in the second half, and the team’s improvement from the season’s first few weeks isn’t lost on Robicheaux.
“You look at a team that’s scoring more points and doing some really good things,” Robicheaux said. “They have talent. (Damonte) Coxie is as good as any wide receiver in the state. (Dontrell) Allen, he’s committed to Mississippi State, so you know he’s real good. Marquise at quarterback and he’s a good one.
“Watching the film of those guys against Thibodaux, they’re a very different team now than what they were to begin the year. We’ll go in with that mindset. This is a team that’s lost games and still keeps playing hard. They play hard until the end and give everything they’ve got. They won’t be willing to make it easy for us.”
While East St. John’s performances have improved, so too have Destrehan’s. DHS appears to be peaking in all phases after scoring wins of 25 and 26 on the road the past two weeks, over Hahnville and Terrebonne respectively.
Quarterback Kohen Granier has thrown eight touchdowns over that two game span.
“You want to be clicking on all cylinders, and we’re getting exceptional play from Kohen, the backs, the receivers and our offensive line,” Robicheaux said. “Our defense and special teams have stepped up in a big way as well. We allowed some points in the fourth quarter last week with our two’s in, but our one’s really didn’t allow them any traction.”
Coxie, an LSU commitment, is 6-foot-3 and has had a strong season in spite of ESJ’s struggles. Last week, Darensbourg found Coxie for scores of 18 and 74 yards. Coxie has also spent time at quarterback this season.
“He’s a phenomenal athlete,” Robicheaux said. “He attacks the ball and does a tremendous job coming down with it. He’s a guy who can really stretch your defense.”
Destrehan scored 20 first quarter points in last week’s 47-21 win over Terrebonne. Granier found John Williams, Colby Duhon, Michael Young and Tramaine Armstrong on scoring passes in the win. Kristian Mosley and Will Sirmon each scored on touchdowns of 51 and 60 yards, respectively. Kendell Anderson added a defensive score.
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