HOUMA — The East St. John Wildcats (0-4) continued their losing streak against the undefeated H.L. Bourgeois (4-0) Braves to start off district play.

While the Wildcats lost to the Braves 34-21 on the road in Houma, the outing was not all bad.

Tailback Dontrell Allen, a Mississippi State commit, saw his first action of the season after missing the first three games. On the second play from scrimmage, the speedy Allen, who is also a track star, took in a 65-yard rushing touchdown to put the Wildcats up 7-0.

However, for much of the game, East St. John was dogged by mistakes and penalties that hurt its chances of success.

“We had opportunities all night,” Alden Foster, East St. John head coach, said. “We fumbled the ball in the red zone; we fumbled the ball at inopportune times. We didn’t capitalize on big plays when we had them. It is the same old mental mistakes. They are a quality football team.”

Perhaps the biggest mistake of the night was a reverse pass by the Braves on fourth-down-and-20 that went for a score.

“We didn’t make the tackle,” Foster said. “We were right on it, we missed it and they scored.”

After tying up the game, Bourgeois scored again to go up 14-7 at half and controlled much of the game after that.

The Wildcats defense saw some success in the second half when Shayhan Williams intercepted a pass and took in the Wildcats second score of the night.

Wildcats wide receiver Da’Monte Coxie scores the Wildcats’ final touchdown of the night, catching a 22-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Adarius Duhe.

In Foster’s 18 years as a head coach, he said it is hard to remember such a tough start to a season.

“We’ve just got to stop killing ourselves and shooting ourselves in the foot,” Foster said. “We’ve got to be able to finish drives and go back to the drawing board and go on from here. We’ve got to execute the game. If we do that, we can play with anybody.”

Despite the bad start to the season, Foster said he is encouraged in his team’s spirit and is looking for a turnaround.

“The thing is just keep on believing and we are going to play hard,” Foster said.