MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / November 24, 1999

ST. JAMES – The road to the Superdome Classic haeds to north Louisianathis week for the St. James Wildcats.St. James (9-2) travels to Benton (12-0) Friday night for thequarterfinals. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.The Wildcats are coming off a 48-27 victory at Breaux Bridge in the regionals Friday night. St. James, which had struggled offensively in thebi-district round against Church Point, got on track Friday, rolling up over 500 yards. The running game accounted for 363 of those yards led byMontrell Steib who carried six times for 116 yards and two touchdowns.

Travell Steib gained over 100 yards while Leslie Aubert had 97 yards and a touchdown. Devon Dabney also scored two touchdowns on the ground.Corey Webster completed 7-of-11 passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns. Davin Dennis caught all seven passes for 139 yards and twotouchdowns. All but two of the passes came in the first half.”We used the passing attack early and the running game late,” St. Jamescoach Rick Gaille said. “We ended up setting up the running game with thepassing game. We were able to get them scattered and had their big guysrun around and in the second half we were able to establish the run.

“The further you go in the playoffs, the more important it is to throw the football. You have to attack the perimeter. The passing game is going to beimportant hopefully for a few more weeks.”Dabney gave the Wildcats an early 14-0 lead on touchdown runs of 7 and 1 yards. Breaux Bridge came back with a 7-yard run by Jarvis Williams butSt. James answered with a 62-yard sweep by Montrell Steib. Williams cutthe deficit to 21-13 on an 18-yard run but Dennis and Webster connected on a 38-yard scoring strike. Webster then found Justin Aubert on the two-point conversion, making it 29-13 at the half.

Dennis and Webster combined again in the third quarter from 15 yards out to extend the lead to 36-13. Phillip Champagne scored on a 5-yard run inthe fourth quarter for Breaux Bridge but again St. James had an answerwith a 39-yard run by Leslie Aubert abd a 21-yard run by Montrell Steib.

Doug Frederick and Aaron Nomey combined on a late 39-yard strike for Breaux Bridge.

The St. James defense intercepted two passes and held Williams to 80yards on 18 carries.

That defense will be tested by a Benton team averaging over 40 points per game. The fifth-seeded Tigers defeated Franklinton, 37-14, in theregionals Friday after opening the playoffs with a 42-8 win over Minden.

Benton, the District 1-3A champions, are led on offense by split end Donald Washington and fullback Johnny Washington. Free safety Calvin Hallis a dangerous kick returner as well as an outstanding defensive back. Onthe line, senior tackle Roy Stroud has been almost impossible to block this season.

“They’ve scored a ton of points,” Gaille said. “They are very explosive.They have a lot of team speed. They put a lot of pressure on youdefensively. They haven’t slowed down yet.St. James will look to extend a couple of streaks with a victory. A winover the Tigers would send the Wildcats to their fourth straight semifinals and extend their streak of seasons with 10 or more victories to eight.

The winner of Friday’s game advances to the semifinals against the winner of the Notre Dame-Amite contest.

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