By RYAN JONES

Special to L’Observateur

Even after the game ended, the stunned smiles on the faces of the East St. John players, coaches and fans showed that the victory was still sinking in. In a marathon three-and-a-half hour game chock full of turnovers, quick scoring and momentum swings, the Wildcats toppled Bonnabel 45-32 Friday, claiming their share of the District 8-5A championship for the first time in six years.

Tied district competitor Hahnville defeated Destrahan while Higgins lost to John Ehret Friday, meaning East St. John will officially split the district title with the Tigers. But after his team’s win, Wildcats head coach Phillip Banko couldn’t help but believe ESJ deserved to be treated like champions.

“I could care less,” Banko said. “We were going to be tri-champions, but guess what, Hahnville won, we won and Higgins lost. We beat Hahnville [27-21 earlier in the season], and that means we win, baby. There it is. I’m excited.”

With one arm wrapped around his daughter and players running around him toward the team bus, Banko explained that though the game was the Wildcats’ regular-season finale, it had the atmosphere of a postseason match-up. East St. John led for most of the game, but it was forced to continually come up with explosive plays on offense and defense to stave off the determined Bruins.

“That’s a playoff game,” he said. “They had to win to get to the playoffs. It was senior night. They gave us their best shot, and we dealt with it. They’ve got a good team, but we had to play for what was in front of us: a district championship.”

Senior quarterback Darion Monroe led the young East St. John team to victory, despite leaving for a series in the second quarter with an apparent leg injury. He threw for 216 yards, two touchdowns and an interception on 9-of-23 passing.

Though his accuracy was at times inconsistent — he had two different streaks of four straight incompletions — Monroe was able to provide a big-play spark for the Wildcats when it mattered most. The Texas A&M commit averaged 24 yards per completion, connecting with a receiver only once for less than 15 yards.

His leading target was senior receiver Rashad Green, who recorded five receptions for 155 yards and both of Monroe’s touchdown passes. Fellow senior Marcus Robinson also reeled in three passes for 64 yards.

The game, which eventually became a shootout, started out slowly; both offenses failed to score in the first quarter. With ESJ holding a slim 14-11 lead going into halftime, Monroe said the seniors spoke up and motivated the squad to put forth a stronger effort in the third quarter.

It’s safe to say that the Wildcats got the message loud and clear. Senior safety Clarence Scott took the opening second half kickoff 69 yards to the end zone, giving East St. John a 21-11 advantage. On the second play of Bonnabel’s ensuing possession, the Bruins lost the football after a bad pitch by senior quarterback Ryan Evans. Monroe immediately completed a 33-yard touchdown pass to Green on the drive’s first play with 11:18 remaining in the quarter.

The game fell further out of reach for the Bruins after senior Xavier Lewis intercepted a wayward Roy Bauer pass and returned it 33 yards for the Wildcats’ third touchdown in less than a minute-and-a-half.

“Our seniors stood up in the locker room and said, ‘This could be our last game,’” Monroe said. “And we came out strong. We ran the opening kick back. We came back out, caught a pick and ran it back. Then we came back and scored again. It was a wild beginning of the half, but it worked out best for us.”

The Bruins fought back with a 20-yard Evans touchdown pass to senior wide out Jeffrey Martin on its next possession, but after East St. John’s 28-point third quarter scoring flurry, the game never again quite seemed in reach for Bonnabel. The close 14-11 halftime score turned into a 42-19 blowout by the period’s end.

Bonnabel scored the game’s first points at the end of the first quarter, set up by a muffed ESJ punt. Evans scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak and then threw for the two point conversion on a trick “swinging gate” play. The touchdown and ensuing conversion put the Bruins up 8-0 with 10:03 remaining before the half.

East St. John drew within one point after a Monroe 6-yard run on its next drive and pulled ahead 14-8 after its first pick-six, courtesy of senior Natthan Anderson’s interception. Bonnabel kicker Daniel Valesquez closed out the first half with a 25-yard field goal as time expired.

The Wildcats defense shut down the Bruins in the first half, holding its duo of starting quarterbacks to a combined 4 of 11 for 42 yards and 2 interceptions.

Banko said that his team still has some areas in which it needs to improve before taking on a first-round opponent.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re healthy and we’ve got to work on the fundamentals, and we need to gameplan,” Banko said. “We’re going to come in tomorrow, we’re going to watch the film tonight and we’re going to critique it.”