By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE — Last season’s clash between East St. John and Rummel was a matchup of the Wildcats’ surprisingly explosive offense and a Rummel’s elite defense.

This season, Rummel brings a more explosive offense to the table. The Wildcats boast a very improved, experienced defense. Both teams are still of high quality on the other side of the ball.

It all points to another highly competitive game between the teams — Rummel trailed 7-6 at halftime last season but emerged with a 20-14 victory at Joe Keller Memorial Stadium.

This time, the teams face off in Rummel’s home opener at 7 p.m. on Saturday night.

“I don’t think anyone’s going to get to 40 or 50 points,” said East St. John coach Larry Dauterive. “But if it does happen, I just hope we’re the team with 50.”

It’s a battle of undefeated teams. Rummel was the Class 5A state runner-up a year ago. Both teams are on the outskirts of the Class 5A top 10, with ESJ receiving 34 votes and Rummel receiving nine. It’s conceivable that the winner of this game would break into the rankings.

But the number Dauterive is most concerned with is four — as in, reaching 4-0.

“It’s an exciting game for the fans,” said Dauterive. “They have two good quarterbacks that we have to try and contain. Their defense brought them to the finals, it was tremendous. They’ve been there before and they know how to win. It all adds up to a huge challenge ahead of us.

But as of right now, we’re 3-0. That’s the best you can be right now, so we’re pretty happy with where we are.”

The Wildcats are coming off of a 35-12 win at St. James. With D’haquille Williams facing double teams and strong opposition in St. James star safety/cornerback Alonzo Lewis, quarterback Darion Monroe turned to his legs to generate offense. Monroe rushed for 97 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries, with 82 of those yards and two scores coming in the fourth.

“We tried to force it to D’haquille (Williams) early, but they had him double covered”, said Dauterive. “We were forced to make some adjustments at halftime”.

Williams caught three passes for 62 yards but made his biggest impact on special teams, taking the game’s first punt 74 yards for a touchdown midway through the 1st quarter.

Defensively, East St. John has come a long way since the jamboree. ESJ allowed 35 points against St. Charles then, but has only allowed 32 to its three opponents since.

Rummel has posted wins against H.L. Bourgeois (63-0), Mandeville (42-41) and Fontainebleau (41-9).