By ROBERT L. LEE

RESERVE – Roughly 10 days into practice, there is overwhelming evidence of a new attitude fueling the East St. John Wildcats.

The black and gold’s new football coach and athletic director, Larry Dauterive, promised to enforce his ideas to get the Wildcats back on track, and has quickly taken the first steps by showing his players the light at the end of the season, starting with 15 days of fundamental spring practice.

“We’ve had 10 great days, I’m ecstatic about our course,” said Dauterive. “These kids are wanting to learn, they have a thirst for knowledge. I love the effort.”

The level of effort is high and the level of excitement generated over Dauterive’s hiring remains high among the staff and students, and Dauterive said it will only continue to grow.

“People are even more excited now that they’ve seen some practices, and I’m not going to let it cool down,” he continued.

The agreed goal in the Wildcats’ camp is, what Dauterive said every coaches’ goal should be, to go undefeated and win the district championship.

“Every time I go out there I want to win. Any coach who doesn’t, should not be a coach,” he said.

However, before the Wildcats can charge down the field, they all need to know where to lineup. That’s the second mission of the 15-day fundamental period.

While the squad adapts to the new man in charge and lays down another layer of football fundamentals, Dauterive is shuffling his deck of players and trying to deal them to their best positions on the field. Of the top obstacles, Dauterive joined the East St. John staff only two months ago and has seen only about half of the players perform some of their talents in physical education class.

“We are trying the kids in different areas and finding out what they will retain, then accentuate on what works,” explained Dauterive.

How he does it is start with practicing players in specific groups, such as quarterbacks on one corner of the field, then shift into another segment of group practice, seeing how players work in different spots, either on offense or defense.

“I think they’re learning and I am pleased with their progress and attitude,” he continued. “I couldn’t ask for more. There is plenty of talent here, I just have to find the right spots. Then it becomes a thing of making plays.”

Wildcats’ players agreed the plays and ideas Dauterive has promoted are largely “common sense” and the new mood is one of renewed confidence.

“He’s brought us a whole new attitude, he gave us confidence, inspiration,” said junior Joshua Taylor, who expects to remain at his cornerback position. “He let us know he knows what he’s doing and everybody’s got the mind set that we can win. It’s a new season with new standards.”

“He’s been teaching us a lot more discipline,” said junior James Genovese, who played the defensive tackle position last season and expects to line up as a nose guard his senior year.

“This is easily a playoff caliber team,” he added. “We lost a lot of people last season, but we’re rebuilding. We are running a different defense, but it’s really nothing hard, mostly common sense. I am confident we will have a good season.”