RESERVE — Last week, East St. John High School coach Aldon Foster and his Wildcats were on the bubble.

As they headed into the final game of the regular season against Central Lafourche, “a win and we’re in” became the team’s mantra.

Foster’s Wildcats were out in 2015, missing the post-season for the first time since 2001.

They wanted it badly enough, apparently, as East St. John went to Central Lafourche and took a 48-29 victory over the Trojans.

It was the team’s third victory in a row to close out the season and gave the Wildcats a 5-5 record. It comes after back-to-back District 7-5A games in which East St. John built leads only to let them slip away.

Foster said he is proud of the way his team has come together over the last few weeks. It is what helped them overcome adversity in Friday night’s win, he said.

“We fell behind three times and responded every time,” Foster said. “We finally put together a fourth quarter.”

It was a pretty complete game. Sophomore quarterback Dasmain Crosby was 10 of 15 passing for 244 yards and three touchdowns, plus he ran for 115 yards and another score.

Wide receiver C.J. Turner was on the receiving end of all three of those scores, plus he had a 90-yard kickoff return for a score.

Chris Thompson returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown.

The win, combined with East St. John’s brutal schedule, was enough to earn the team the No. 23 seed in the Class 5A bracket, sending it to No. 10 seed Barbe for a first round playoff.

The Bucs are 8-1 and shared the District 3-5A championship with Sulphur and Acadiana. They closed their season Oct. 28 with a 38-24 win over Sulphur to clinch their share, then had an open date in Week 10.

“They’re an established program, a winning program,” Foster said. “It’s up to us to not make mistakes that can cost us.”

Only 16 teams made the Select Schools Division III bracket. Fortunately for St. John the Baptist Parish football fans, Riverside Academy and St. Charles Catholic are in that number.

Riverside, last year’s Division III state runner-up and the No. 4 team in Class 2A,  earned the No. 1 seed in this year’s bracket, earning itself a home game against No. 16 seed Sacred Heart of Ville Platte.

The Trojans are 5-5 following a 48-27 victory over Delcambre in the regular season finale, but they are in a brutal district that includes defending state champion Notre Dame (10-0) and Catholic High of New Iberia (9-1).

Riverside (8-1) extended an eight-game winning streak with a decisive 51-0 win over Sophie B. Wright last week.

As expected, St. Charles Catholic (8-2) earned the No. 3 seed in the Division III bracket, behind No. 1 Riverside and No. 2 Notre Dame. That’s the same team that handled Riverside in last year’s state championship game and the No. 1 ranked team in Class 2A.

Now the Comets will face No. 14 seed Thomas Jefferson (5-5) in a rematch of their Week 2 game.

St. Charles defeated the Jaguars 35-6 on Sept. 9, but coach Frank Monica said his team isn’t taking anything for granted.

“It’s good and bad,” Monica said. “For one thing, we know one another because we played one another. On the flip side, you’d like to play somebody different in the playoffs. I think they’ve gotten better and I hope we have.”

The Comets certainly are a surprise after entering the season with a roster full of young and inexperienced players.

Huge back-to-back victories over Central and East Ascension helped boost the confidence of the youngsters, Monica said.

“We had to settle some personnel issues,” Monica said. “We tried to do some things we weren’t capable of. We certainly know who we are now. I think our kids realize that maybe they are a little better than what they were told. We’re not great in any area, but we’re pretty decent in some.”

For the second year in a row, West St. John will make the playoffs with a non-winning record.

Last year the Rams finished 4-6 and earned the No. 17 seed.

Then they went on a little run, knocking off No. 16 Ferriday and No. 1 seed Many before falling to No. 8 Mangham in the quarterfinals.

This year the Rams finished 3-7 and earned the No. 24 seed.  They are hoping for a repeat run, though.

West St. John will travel to No. 9 seed East Feliciana for Friday’s bi-district round.

“Definitely,” coach Brandon Walters said, “We like our chances. We like where we are in the bracket. We think we can go on the road and make some noise then, hopefully, come back home to play again.”

Walters said his Rams are better than their sub-.500 record indicates.

“We’ve been right there in most of our games,” he said. “Lately, we just haven’t moved the ball well or been able to score.”