By ROBERT L. LEE

HAHNVILLE – Of the six American Legion teams based out of the River Parishes, only one remains to represent the group. The Hahnville High School-based Otto Candies team held off its rival neighbor, the Destrehan-based East St. Charles Post 366/195 squad, to finish second in the second district standings.

East St. Charles’ earned a third place finish, which placed the Fighting Wildcats in a best-two-of-three playoff series against Hannan-based Capella/All-State Insurance to fight for a place in the tournament.

The Hawks knocked East St. Charles out of the running in two games, taking the first in Destrehan 9-5, then the second game at Hannan for a 7-4 victory.

Shaw-based First Bank and Trust secured a first place finish, after maintaining it all season. Legion teams from John Curtis, Slidell and Hannan all have a place in the tournament, which will accept the top eight teams, when the double-elimination playoffs wrap up in the middle of this week.

The Tigers’ second place position earned them an automatic seat in the Southeast Regional Tournament Saturday, July 20. Until that date, the Tigers will continue their usual summer practice schedule and are looking into somewhat of a scrimmage game versus the also second district Jesuit-based Retif Oil team on Thursday, to allow some playing time this week, before entering Saturday’s tournament.

The Tigers’ last competition, and landslide win, was a little more than a week ago on Tuesday versus the Belle Chasse-based New Orleans Fish House team.

This week’s proposed game would also give the Tigers an updated idea of the Blue Jays’ (21-2) strengths, which would benefit the Tigers should the teams play later in the tournament.

If the Tigers don’t scrimmage against the Blue Jays, head coach Mark Sims said he would divide his team into two groups and have them play against themselves.

Either way, he said the almost two weeks without a load of games should have all of the players at a sure 100 percent. Also, the Tigers reported no injuries to slow them down.

“We are hoping for a top two position after the tournament,” said Sims.

He noted the top two regional teams will then have a position in the State Tournament, which begins August 2.

This will mark the first time the Tigers will play in the regional tournament, as last year the Tigers finished the summer season in sixth place.

“We had a good district season this year to come in second,” Sims continued. “But the teams from Shaw and Jesuit are usually hard to beat.”