By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE — It was a rough beginning and end for East St. John on Thursday night, but the middle of the game provided enough smooth sailing for the Wildcats to emerge with a 40-19 scrimmage win against McDonogh #35 at the newly renovated Joe Keller Memorial Stadium.

East St. John allowed a touchdown to McDonogh’s first team on their opening drive, but the Wildcat first and second teamers combined proceeded to score 40 unanswered points.

Once the full quarter portion of the scrimmage began — the majority of the competition was held where each offense would get 12 consecutive plays against the defense, then turn the ball over to the other side — the Roneagles scored twice, including once on a deep pass with no time left.

“We’re a work in progress still,” said ESJ coach Larry Dauterive. “I wasn’t happy with all the penalties. There were far too many. Our (offensive) line stepped up a little at the end, but we stopped ourselves a few times with mistakes.”

McDonogh capped a nine-play drive from its own 30 with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Kentucky-commitment Theltus Cobbins to Kendrick Banks. The two-point conversion try was no good. McDonogh followed up with another 55-yard completion, but it came up short of the endzone on its 12th and final play.

East St. John stumbled on its third play, as Monroe threw an interception that was returned to the ESJ 10. But with the ball back — turnovers simply put the ball back on the 20 for a team to continue its series of plays — struck back with a big play of its own, a sight that could become familiar this season — a 50-yard bomb from Darion Monroe to D’haquille Williams for a score. Marco Barrera’s extra point made it 7-6.

East St. John’s second team then added a quick pair of touchdowns against the Roneagle two’s. First, Troy Thompson connected on a 50-yard pass to an open Dez Broussard that set ESJ up on the 20. Three plays later, Kadeem Vance crossed the goal for a six yard touchdown to make it 14-6.

On the very next play in the series, Thompson again found Broussard deep for a 69-yard touchdown, making it 21-6.

“The second team did some things,” said Dauterive. “Dez Broussard’s a real fast kid. He has a chance.”

With the first team’s back on the field, Monroe struck next with his legs, capping a seven play drive with a six-yard score on a keeper.

The second team topped off the scoring for ESJ via a 2-yard rushing score by Thaddeus Victor, then on a pass from Victor to Troy Gerard.

From there, the two teams played a 12 minute quarter. McDonogh scored on its first drive via a 25-yard Cobbins touchdown pass, then later scored with no time left on the clock when Trey Carter got behind the ESJ defense and converted a Jyron Jase pass for a score.

“You’ve got to be pleased with the win,” said Dauterive. “But we still have a lot of work to do.”

Each team’s first team scored three times in the scrimmage.

“It was a good matchup,” said ESJ defensive tackle Gerron Borne, who tallied two sacks and generated a push up the middle for much of the night. “(Cobbins) is an SEC commitment, going to Kentucky, a guy that can run and throw. So I was hyped up.

Tonight, we were alright. We could be better. We made some mistakes, but nobody’s perfect. You just have to learn from those and not make the same mistakes later.”