By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

EDGARD — “Don’t take a step back now after how far you’ve come,” said West St. John coach Robert Valdez to his Rams after their convincing 20-6 season opening victory over rival St. James.

But for some solid defensive play, the Rams looked lost in their jamboree matchup last week with Riverside, turning the ball over six times and falling decisively to the Rebels.

But on Friday night, the memory of those jamboree Rams faded quickly — and then were erased altogether.

“We had three great days of practice,” Valdez said. “I knew we wouldn’t have to do much to motivate them for this game. It was all about correcting our mistakes and we did a good job of it.”

The game was a matchup between the seventh-ranked team in Class 1A (WSJ) and the sixth-ranked team in 3A.

Blandy Young, Jarius Moll and Darzil Washington were among the brightest stars of the night for the Rams — their positions aren’t listed as each plays in multiple spots. For Young, his impact on the game came swiftly as he rushed for 75 of his game high 184 rushing yards on a jet sweep to score from the second play from scrimmage. Moll scored a rushing touchdown and intercepted a pass.

And Washington led a completely dominating defensive effort, sacking St. James quarterback Ben Falgoust four times and recovering a fumble. The Rams blitzed heavily, time and time again beating the Wildcats’ protection — Falgoust and the Wildcat tailbacks at times had a Ram draped upon them virtually on the snap of the ball.

“It’s all up to the defensive line. They got good push and it opened holes for me to run freely,” said Washington.

Said Valdez: “We blitz. We come after you. Especially against Wing-T teams, you want to get penetration and disrupt timing. It was very encouraging.”

West St. John received the opening kickoff — St. James won the toss and deferred — and scored on a highlight reel run from Young, who seemed to be corralled by the defense for a time before suddenly busting loose down the middle of the field. Justin Smith ran in a two-point conversion attempt to give the Rams an 8-0 lead 53 seconds into the game.

“Coach chewed us out all week,” said Young. “The big difference was tonight, we wanted it. We all wanted it, and we gave all we had.”

Said Valdez: “He goes from zero to sixty in a very short time.”

St. James’ first possession was disrupted by Rams’ end Ronnie Feist, who sacked Falgoust and dropped running back LaRohn Cambre in the backfield on second and third down to force a punt.

“It came down to a lack of aggressiveness in pass protection, something we’ve worked on extensively,” said St. James coach Rick Gaille. “We weren’t physical enough to combat the things they presented us with.”

The Wildcats’ next effort ended when Washington recovered a fumble forced when the Rams interrupted the exchange on a handoff between Falgoust and running back Lester Verret. WSJ took over at the SJH 31.

St. James seized a bit of momentum back, however, when Shaquille Narcisse intercepted an Austin Howard pass intended for Moll in the endzone.

But SJH couldn’t take advantage and the Rams would add to their lead. West St. John drove 69 yards in 4:20, punching it in when Moll ran a “dive read” play while lined up as the team’s Wildcat quarterback and dashed outside to the pylon. The conversion attempt failed, but WSJ led 14-0 with 4:02 left in the first half.

“We ran so effectively, they started pinching and crashing down,” said Valdez. “We put in (Moll) as our Wildcat guy, and he ran wide. Our offensive line controlled things all night.”

West St. John quickly landed a finishing blow in the third quarter. Moll intercepted Falgoust on a long pass intended for wide receiver Alonzo Lewis — the LSU commitment was held to a single catch on the night—and the Rams took over on their own 44.

Young ran 37 yards on WSJ’s first play, then gobbled up 24 more yards on a second carry. He’d finish the job himself on the drive’s third play, scoring a 9-yard touchdown to make it 20-0 with 9:59 left in the third quarter.

St. James got on the board early in the fourth on Verret’s 1-yard touchdown, but West St. John chewed up almost six minutes on its next drive, effectively sealing the win.