East St. John survived a late Hahnville comeback to remain unbeaten Friday night, capturing a 42-37 victory over the Tigers in Reserve.
The Wildcats (5-0, 2-0) remained unbeaten in District 7-5A play and overall, but it wasn’t easy against a Tigers team that arrived with intent to wreck ESJ’s homecoming festivities and in the process turn their own season in the right direction. Hahnville (1-4, 0-2) pulled within a score late on Savayon Weber’s scoop and score of an ESJ fumble, but the Wildcats were able to kill the final four minutes of play on a final drive keyed by its offensive line and the tough running of Elijah Frank and Lorenzo Zeno.
For a Hahnville offense that has struggled much of the season, Friday night’s game could go a long way in spite of the loss. But special teams mistakes plagued Hahnville, and defensively the Tigers weren’t able to slow the Wildcats in the first half, nor on the final drive of the night.
“The story is we continue to not put all three phases together,” said Hahnville head coach Daniel Luquet. “We give up a kickoff return for a touchdown, another big return for favorable starting position … it was a bad first half defensively, we have to tackle better … we cannot continue as a young football team who’s learning and growing to continue to not use all three phases.”
While the Tigers didn’t garner the victory they were after, however, there were signs of progress on a night many thought the unbeaten Wildcats might control throughout, with ESJ coming in off of three consecutive dominant wins.
“Look, I’ve got a bunch of kids who play hard,” Luquet said. “They’re just young and continuing to learn every week. Our first five weeks are not easy … but all these things we’re learning these first five weeks are going to make us better for these next five games.”
East St. John head coach Brandon Brown said he wasn’t entirely happy with his team’s level of focus leading up to Friday night, and said there’s plenty to clean up before the Wildcats take the field again next week. But, he added, in the end his team got it done.
“The mark of a good club is to find a way to win. You finish through adversity when things don’t go right, and you still find a way. We found a way to win tonight. It wasn’t clean and it was disappointing … we have to fix some things to make this right,” Brown said
After a back-and-forth first half, East St. John led by 20, 42-22, after Jermaine Mangle scored his second touchdown of the night. It seemed that the Tigers were finished, but that was not the case – Ryan Gregson’s touchdown run and a HHS two-point conversion cut the lead to 12.
The East St. John defense came up big after Hahnville engineered a drive deep into Wildcats’ territory, stopping HHS on fourth and one for a turnover on downs.
But Weber’s fumble recovery and return gave Hahnville new life, albeit briefly.
Hahnville led in the second quarter 15-14 following a Calvin Smith touchdown run.
East St. John shifted momentum back in its own favor with three of the game’s next four touchdowns, including a kickoff return following Smith’s score and another on a reception by D’hkai Joseph just before half to make it 35-22 at the half.
Kairan Smith and Zeno split time at quarterback and combined to throw four touchdown passes.
Gregson finished with a pair of touchdown passes and a touchdown run for the Tigers.
“We played well in spurts. We still have to put it all together,” Luquet said. “It’s a young team that’s continuing to get better and better – we’ve got to just continue to grind.”
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