Hahnville got East St. John’s best shot at Joe Keller Memorial Stadium Friday night, but after a tightly contested half, the Tigers were able to race away to victory.
HHS (6-1, 5-0) led 26-18 in the third quarter before putting the Wildcats away with three unanswered touchdowns, 47-18.
The loss dropped ESJ to 0-7 overall, 0-5 in District 7-5A play.
The Tigers remain alone in first place in the district with a perfect 5-0 mark in league play – one that will be on the line next week as Hahnville faces off with rival Destrehan.
But on Friday night, an East St. John team that has struggled throughout the season took the field determined to play district spoiler for a longtime local rival, and put together one of its best halves of the season.
Hahnville head coach Greg Boyne credited East St. John for its play, while on the Tigers’ end mistakes were clustering.
“Everything that could go wrong, went wrong in the first half,” Boyne said. “And then in the third quarter, it was the opposite. We missed some opportunities on offense and on defense, we gave up a big play, which we haven’t been doing all year. A couple of interference penalties and a couple of three-and-outs. Not a clean first half.”
The Tigers have done a strong job of maintaining focus each week this season, but Boyne admitted that the Destrehan matchup looming next week may have affected the mindset.
“You can tell kids 100 times that you can’t look ahead, you can’t look to next week when you’re preparing for this week … but honestly, for a team that hasn’t been in the situation that we’re going to be in next week in awhile, I think it showed a bit in the first half,” Boyne said.
A different Tigers team took the field in the second half.
“The first half was not what we’ve been doing. Credit to East St. John, it was their senior night. They played like they didn’t really care who we were or what our record was or what their record was … I think a they’re a prideful team, and in the first half that showed.”
Lance Marshall and Calvin Smith each had two touchdowns. Kobe Louis scored as well and led the Tigers in receiving. Patrick Jackson scored on a run. Landen Teague had three touchdown passes.
