Whatever Hahnville did on offense, East St. John matched up against them on defense and did not budge all night long.
Likewise, East St. John’s (4-3, 4-0) offense dominated Hahnville’s (3-4, 2-2) defense.
Even though Wildcats quarterback Xavier Johnson threw two interceptions, one in the first quarter to cornerback Jamaal Cannon and another in the second to cornerback Larry Boyd, Hahnville’s defense could not keep up with the quick rushing attack led by Johnson who made the first score of the game in the second quarter on a six yard rush.
In addition to the interceptions, East St. John turned the ball over on a fumble and two muffed punts that were recovered by Hahnville. Hahnville got their only touchdown of the night off the possession of one of the muffed punts. After taking over at the Wildcats’ 12 yard line East St. John got three back-to-back penalties that ultimately placed the ball on the four yard line and running back Lynn Simmons took a sweep in over the pylon to tie up the game 7-7. However, Hahnville was unable to capitalize on the other turnovers in the first half.
Following Hahnville’s lone touchdown the Wildcats took control of the game and Johnson ran for his second touchdown of the night and threw for another touchdown to wide open wide receiver Kyle Patterson who took the ball 74 yards down the sideline and untouched into the end zone. East St. John running back Nigel Anderson also picked up a rushing score.
After struggling to run the ball in the first half of the game the Hahnville Tigers did not have much choice but to try and pass the ball in the second half to over come a 21 point deficit.
Hahnville began an attempt at a comeback after an East St. John fumble gave the Tigers the ball with good field position. Only two plays after being knocked to the ground in a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit on an incompletion wide receiver Brandon Singleton stepped up big with a 14-yard reception to bring the ball down the to the eight yard line, but after three incomplete passes the Tigers opted for a 23-yard field goal by placekicker Craig Ford to make the score 10-28.
After a poor kick return and a sack by Dwaine Thomas pinned East St. John deep in their own territory Boyd blocked a punt out of the back of the end zone for a safety to tighten the margin to 12-28, but that is as close as it would get.
Neither Martindale, who was sacked several times and threw an interception, or quarterback Dylan Keller, who played for a few series for the first time since being injured in week two against Rummel, were able to put together substantial drives to get the Tigers within scoring distance.
The Wildcats kept up their rushing attack for much of the remainder of the game and eventually ran the time clockout for the win.
Click here to see photos from the game.
Hahnville will next travel to H.L. Bourgeois on Friday, Oct. 25 with kickoff set for 7 p.m.
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