MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / October 4, 2000

RESERVE – It’s not often that a punt has a major impact on a football game but it did in East St. John’s 17-14 victory at Destrehan Friday night.East St. John was clinging to the three-point lead when Chance Blank wentback to punt at his own 32 with just over three minutes remaining in the game. The snap was high, forcing Blank to chase down the ball inside the 20. Blank picked up the ball, rolled right to avoid a defender and got off a low punt that bounced to the Destrehan 40. Destrehan failed to move the balland East St. John held on to the win.That play was one of two turning points in the game. The other came on thesecond play of the second quarter with East St. John trailing 14-0. The Wildcats had gotten possession on the Destrehan 34 as Michael Brown intercepted a halfback pass by Richard Jones. On third down from the 35,East St. John tried a halfback pass of its own with Chuckie Burl connectingwith Wade Walker on a 35-yard touchdown pass.

East St. John later tied the score at 14 on a 57-yard touchdown pass fromDarwin Pittman to Mervin Williams. Blank’s 20-yard field goal in the finalminute of the first half proved to be the deciding margin.

With the win, the Wildcats improved to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in District 7-5A.

East St. John held onto the lead behind an standout effort by the defense.The Wildcats held Destrehan to 47 yards in the second half and forced two turnovers.

Destrehan got no closer than the East St. John 35-yard line in the secondhalf and that came after Fred Smith returned the second half kickoff to midfield. The Destrehan offense, the highest scoring one in District 7-5Agoing into the game, was held to 202 total yards, 19 coming on the ground.

East St. John was also contained in the second half but finished with 357yards for the game. Pittman completed 12-of-29 passes for 213 yards anda touchdown. Burl had 72 yards on 19 carries as the Wildcats rushed for 109yards on 37 carries.

“We played really well defensively, especially in the second half,” East St.

John coach Ronnie Stephens said. “I thought the turning point was thehalfback pass. We got it in and got momentum going. And we scooped thatpunt off the ground and got it off. I though those were the turning points.”I’m real proud of this football team. We got down early and kept our poise.We got it in, got another one in and kept playing hard.”Burl now has 379 yards on 78 carries this season. Pittman has completed46-of-99 passes for 753 yards and four touchdowns. His main receiver,Raydel Patterson, caught four passes for 39 yards Friday, giving him 17 catches for 275 yards and three touchdowns for the season.

This week, East St. John holds its Homecoming against a Thibodaux teamcoming off a 23-6 loss to Terrebonne. The loss dropped Thibodaux to 0-1 indistrict and 0-5 overall.

“Thibodaux has played a pretty tough schedule,” Stephens said. “They are alot tougher than their record indicates.”That schedule has included ranked teams Higgins, Assumption, Destrehan and Terrebonne in addition to East Ascension.

Junior Lance Durham is the quarterback. Wally Sanchez and Paul Coleman willalso be in the backfield. Receivers are Nathan Roger, Mike Wilson and ErnestHarvey out wide and Jeremy Davis at tight end.

The Tigers are big on the line, led by senior tackle Nathan Roger, center David Tucker and guard Steven Bernard.

The defensive line is big as well, led by defensive ends Jerry Williams and Josh Becnel and tackle Shane Burnside. Sanchez, Adam Percle, Stephen Coxen andTrey Wagner are the linebackers. Wilfred Turner and Jay Fertita return inthe backfield and are joined by Kenny Lacy and Dontrell Moore.

Kickoff for Friday’s game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.Burl ran for 201 yards and two touchdowns in 1999 to lead the Wildcats to a 44-14 victory at Thibodaux. Floyd Smith added two touchdown passes.East St. John travels to Neville next week in a non-district tmatchup.

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