BY DAVID FOLSE II

Sports Editor

LAPLACE-After making their first-ever trip to the Top 28 in Lafayette, the recognition has begun to come for the East St. John Wildcats.

Ryan Perrilloux garnered first-team all 6-5A honors and Ricardo Porter was named to the second team.

The trio of Ryan Stipe, Willie Lago and Jamal Breaux were named to the honorable mention all-district squad.

East St. John Head Coach Charles Julian was happy to see his team get recognition after their extraordinary year.

“It’s good for the kids to get the recognition,” Julian said. “It says a lot for the program. It speaks volumes for the program and shows that we are moving in the right direction.

“The only thing that we can do is continue to work hard and try and keep the program going in the right direction.”

Julian credits his five all-district members as the real “building blocks” of the East St. John basketball program.

“These boys were the cornerstone of the program.,” Julian said. “Those kids were there since I became the head coach.

“I am proud of them and proud that I had the chance to work with them. They did a lot for East St. John. They proved that we had a great season and I was proud of them.”

Not playing a majority of the first part of the season, Julian was particularly happy for Perrilloux.

“I’ve said it before,” Julian said. “He’s the best athlete in the country. He hadn’t played basketball for about 9-10 months and then he came on and earned all-district honors. If he had played all-season, he would have definitely been MVP.”