By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

RESERVE — The East St. John boys soccer team got off to a quick start at H.L. Bourgeois Tuesday night in district action, scoring a minute into play en route to a 4-1 road victory.  

Greg Burnett, Avery Williams, Youssef El-Feituri and Ryan Denet each scored goals for the Wildcats (5-8-4), who earned their fifth win of the season.

Denet’s goal broke the barely-settled ice,  scoring on a penalty shot after he was fouled in the box, making it 1-0.

Another highlight was Williams’ goal, who found the upper corner of the net after receiving a cross from 40 yards out.

“It was a pretty shot,” East St. John coach Paul Dupuy said. “Offensively, we clicked Tuesday. Everyone was pretty excited after we got (Denet’s goal) so early. We stressed before the game that you can’t take any team for granted. H.L. Bourgeois isn’t a powerhouse, but we’ve lost some games we felt we shouldn’t have because we didn’t begin with the intensity we needed to. This time out, we played well throughout.”

Aside from his offensive stars, Dupuy praised the defensive play of  Jadden Diaz, who moved from the midfield to the stopper position.

“He made a lot of plays and really helped solidify what we’re doing defensively,” Dupuy said. “He was getting to a lot of balls and making a lot of plays on the wing, so we decided to try him out at stopper once we started getting guys healthy. He’s done a great job for us.”

It was a bounce back performance from a  Jan. 9 loss to Central Lafourche that ended with the Tarpons ahead 2-0.

“It was neck-and-neck for the most part,” Dupuy said. “We made a couple of mistakes that cost us.

“I felt like we played pretty well. We’re healthy now. Central Lafourche is a better, more polished team. But we held them in check for the most part, and can look at cleaning up a few of the momentum plays we allowed for next time.”