By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

Hahnville coach Lou Valdin did not mince words when asked whether his team had a little extra incentive to defeat East St. John on Friday night, a team that had downed the Tigers in each of the past three seasons.

“Yeah, we needed to beat them,” said Valdin. “We owed them one.”

Payback was achieved for the Tigers and received by the Wildcats, as Hahnville scored on each of its first five possessions on its way to capturing a 42-21 District 6-5A championship-clinching victory in Boutte.

“I’m feeling pretty good,” said Hahnville running back Alfred Blue, who rushed for 152 yards and scored four touchdowns. “But now we wanna be state champs.”

East St. John was playing for a chance to share district title honors. But Hahnville had other ideas.

“We didn’t want to share anything with anyone,” said Blue.

East St. John receiver D’haquille Williams returned to the Wildcat lineup after a one week absence, and added another big night to his tally, scoring three times (including one rushing touchdown.)

It was Williams who gave East St. John (7-3, 3-2) an early advantage when he capped a quick 80-yard drive with a 31-yard rushing touchdown, giving ESJ a 7-0 lead only 47 seconds into the game.

From there, Hahnville (9-1, 5-0) showcased its ability on both sides of the football.

Blue’s 46-yard touchdown run capped Hahnville’s first possession and tied the game. With 7:29 left in the first quarter, Tigers quarterback Brian Ensminger connected with James Butler on a streak route for a 30-yard touchdown.

It took only three plays on Hahnville’s next drive to make it a two score game, as Lloyd Richard ripped off a 37-yard scoring run with 5:18 remaining in the first quarter.

HHS finished its first quarter flurry with a score capping a 5-play drive with blue’s second touchdown, a 4-yard run.

Hahnville’s fifth possession ended in two plays on Ensminger’s pass down the deep middle to Blue. That went for a 33-yard touchdown early in the second quarter, and HHS was rolling.

“I have to take full responsibility for this loss,” said East St. John coach Larry Dauterive. “The defensive plan that I gave them didn’t work. I felt like our base defense wouldn’t be enough to stop them. I felt like we could get to the quarterback, and we wanted to make them run wide…but they gashed us up the middle.”

Hahnville’s defense was just as impressive.

Constant pressure on ESJ quarterback Kalen Henderson resulted in a barrage of sacks – and eventually in Henderson leaving the game due to injury in the fourth quarter.

A number of first half ESJ drives ended with Hahnville gaining good field position after punts or turnovers.

“Two words, pass rush,” said Valdin. “We knew they wanted to throw to 12 (Williams) and four (Tim Evans). We covered those guys and blitzed them.”

East St. John made a push to make it a game again, cutting the HHS lead to 14 on two more Williams’ scores – the first on a 40-yard connection with Henderson midway through the second quarter, then on a 12-yarder after ESJ recovered a fumble on Hahnville’s kickoff return to get the second half started off.

Hahnville slammed the door shut on its next chance.

Ensminger’s 27-yard pass to Butler set up a 17-yard Blue scoring run to make it a 3-score game.