By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

HARVEY — Ahmani Martin made the biggest play in his team’s 2013 first round victory over St. Amant, a game-sealing pick six that propelled his team onward to the regional round.

It must have felt nice: he’s now done it twice.

Martin intercepted John Ehret quarterback Caron Baham and returned it 13 yards for a touchdown to put ESJ ahead 28-12 with 11:08 left in the fourth quarter, en route to a 28-18 victory at Hoss Memstas Stadium.

“They say big time players make big plays in big games,” Martin said. “I just want to keep coming up big for my team. It’s a great night to be a Wildcat.”

The 20th seeded Wildcats handed Ehret (9-2) just its second loss of the season and snapped an eight-game Patriots winning streak.

“We played one of the toughest schedules of anyone this season,” said ESJ’s Nigel Anderson, who played at running back and linebacker. “We felt we were more prepared for this than they were. We felt like if we do our job and contain (Baham) … that’s their guy, and we’d come out with the win.”

It sets up a second round River Parishes showdown and rematch as ESJ and Destrehan are paired off to face one another just two weeks after the teams played in the final week of the regular season, a 28-14 Destrehan victory.

That one was at Destrehan. This one will be at East St. John, since the Wildcats traveled in round one.

First, though, the Wildcats (6-5) will enjoy a big road playoff win — and ESJ coach and Gretna native Phillip Banko a successful homecoming to the Westbank.

“1-0, baby,” ESJ coach Phillip Banko said. “What a great win. That team scored 45 points per game and allowed just 10 per. It’s a heckava homecoming.”

Martin’s interception was the signature play of a defensive performance that gave Ehret’s young breakout quarterback fits. The Wildcats intercepted him three times, two going for pick-sixes: Dontrell Allen intercepted Baham on Ehret’s first drive of the night and returned it 27 yards for the score, putting ESJ ahead 6-0 after a missed extra point.

“He’s an athletic guy,” Martin said. “We just wanted to keep him going east and west and contain him from there.”

The Patriots’ defense stepped up on ESJ’s next possession when Kardale Clark sacked ESJ quarterback Xavier Lewis on third-and-15 from the Ehret 18, forcing a fumble that teammate Jayvaugh Gilmore recovered.

The Wildcats snuffed out that momentum immediately. Three plays into Ehret’s next drive, Shayhan Williams picked off Baham for the second time on the night and set ESJ up just outside the Ehret redzone. After an 11-yard run by Shedrick Colbert, Nigel Anderson took it in for six to make it 12-0; Williams ran in a two-point conversion to make it a 14-0 lead.

ESJ’s next possession ended with the fourth turnover of the night when Ehret picked off Lewis’ deep pass intended for Jarrod Jackson. For the first time, the Patriots showed life on offense, Dejon Harris ripped off a 35-yard run, putting his team in business at the ESJ 12. On a fourth-and-two, Harris took the ball up the middle. This time, ESJ stiffened defensively, and stopped him just short of the marker to force a turnover-on-downs.

That 14-0 score held until the ESJ’s second offensive play of the third quarter. After a long punt return by Antonio Parks, Lewis found a crease up the sideline. Nobody was catching the LSU commitment, his 40-yard touchdown making it 21-0.

Baham settled down, and Ehret made a push at extending its season. He led a 76-yard drive in response to the Lewis score, capping it off on a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 21-6 after a misses extra point.

Then ESJ committed its third turnover, Jarius Wallace intercepting Lewis and returning it to the ESJ 11-yard line. An ESJ personal foul penalty put it on the 6, and Baham took it in on the first play. But another missed extra point kept it a two-score game.

Then came the Wildcats’ knockout punch, courtesy of Martin.

“They tried to get me to bite on a bubble screen, but I jumped the slant,” Martin said.

Martin’s pick seemingly put things out of reach, but Ehret had a last gasp when Baham scored to cap a 60-yard drive. On a two-point conversion attempt, he seemed stopped at the line but kept churning and eventually found himself — and a crowd of linemen and defenders — in the endzone. The conversion was initially ruled as good, but after a conference it was overturned.