Hahnville returns home this Friday night for the first of back-to-back home games and back-to-back River Parish rivals, as East St. John visits one week before a Halloween night clash with Destrehan.
ESJ went 2-7 last season, including a 47-18 loss to HHS, in a down year for a historically strong Wildcats program.
The Wildcats earned their first victory of the season two weeks ago in its homecoming game, 32-14 over Central Lafourche, before falling decisively to Terrebonne 52-14 last week. ESJ enters with a record of 1-6 overall.
Da’Mon Scott leads ESJ at quarterback. Scott took over the position as a sophomore last year. His favorite target is Deonte Fleming, a sophomore wide receiver. Fleming’s brother Donte plays in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings. East St. John is breaking in several new starters on the offensive line.
Defensively, East St. John is far more experienced, led by defensive ends Jayden Johnson and Stanford Jenkins and linebacker Warren Leboeuf.
Hahnville head coach Greg Boyne said that the message to his Tigers (6-1, 2-1) is that it’s important to understand this Wildcats roster is more talented than its record suggests.
“And anytime uou play somebody that’s a nearby rival, you’ve got to prepare as if they’re undefeated,” Boyne said. “They’ve had injuries, and they seem to be playing a lot of younger guys than they were earlier than the year. I think they’re better than their record and they certainly have better players than their record – there’s a bunch of really good athletes over there.”
Scott is one Boyne noted as an impact player for the Wildcats, while the coach said Hahnville knows Fleming will see the ball early and often.
“He’s a sophomore and he plays beyond his years,” Boyne said. “He’s fast and he runs really good routes. They try to get it to him in different ways. They’re not very shy about letting you know they’re going to get him the ball. A really good football player.”
Hahnville, meanwhile, has another really good football player leading the way at quarterback. Landen Teague was named one of four Allstate Sugar Bowl Manning Futures honorees for his performance in last week’s 49-14 win over Central Lafourche. Each week prep quarterbacks are selected as potential future candidates for the Manning Award which recognizes the top collegiate quarterback in the nation on an annual basis. It was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in 2004 to honor the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning.
It was a near perfect night for Teague, who completed 19-of-20 passes for 302 yards and three touchdowns.
“He was locked in from the beginning … he’s been playing and competing at a high level all year,” Boyne said. “He threw the ball well, we started underneath early and he took a lot of deep shots from there. Everything was clicking. When you have that kind of yards per attempt … hats off to Landen. He had a good week of watching film and we saw his work put into action.”
Boyne said Teague deserves the recognition and that he was proud of the junior.
“It’s a tremendous award that the Sugar Bowl does, and for a kid, just to have that (Manning) name attached in recognition of a performance you had, I think that says alot,” Boyne said. “It was a phenomenal night.”
He spread the ball out to six different receivers. led by Aaron Williams’ seven receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown. Bennett Naquin caught four passes for 75 yards and a touchdown. Kevias Singleton caught four passes for 73 yards and a touchdown.
It was a breakout game for Williams. Boyne said the Tigers have wanted to get him more involved, and on Friday Williams showed exactly why.
“It was awesome to see, because he’s a very talented kid and he’s one of the hardest workers we have in the weight room,” said Boyne. “At practice, he’s quiet. He comes in and does his job every day. So you love to see him have that game. He and Landen are starting to have a really good connection.”
Those several receivers produced along with a big night by Fabian Celestine, who needed just eight carries to gain 105 yards on the ground and score three touchdowns. Defensively, end Raymond Williams added a touchdown on a scoop and score.
The Tiger offense is showing that it can hurt defenses from numerous positions on the field, and that’s how Boyne likes it.
“I’ve always said, the more guys that you get involved, the more stress you put on the defense,” Boyne said. “And Landon understands what we want to do. He’s gotten so much better at reading the defense … his maturity has allowed us to open up the playbook, and these receivers all played a good bit last year.”
