East St. John wins 2OT thriller to set up rivalry renewal with Ehret

There were many obstacles to overcome for East St. John.

The Wildcats had to travel Friday to Baton Rouge as an underdog at Woodlawn of Baton Rouge.

East St. John was the lower seed, at No. 18.

Then, there was the rain and sloppy conditions which made ball security and footing treacherous.

In the end, the Wildcats persevered, showed their mettle and emerged victorious in a thrilling 35-28 double overtime victory over the 15th-seeded Panthers.

East St. John had to overcome a 16-6 halftime deficit and a 22-6 second half deficit, rallying to tie the game in regulation to force overtime.

Struggling to deal with the wet conditions, there were 17 fumbled combined between the two teams, including an astonishing 13 by the Wildcats, who still found a way to win. East St. John only lost two of those fumbles, the same number lost by Woodlawn.

The biggest fumble was on the game’s final play when Woodlawn quarterback Richie Collins could not handle a snap in the second overtime and East St. John recovered to end the game.

That came after Jackie Marshall, a linebacker by trade, had moved to offense and scored on a 1-yard touchdown run in the second overtime to give the Wildcats a 35-28 lead.

Marshall finished with three touchdown runs, playing a huge role on a night where running the football north and south was crucial to success.

Speaking on The Three Tailgaters Show on 106.1 FM Saturday morning, Brown said Marshall wanted to play both ways.

“When I first got here, Jackie always told us he was a running back,” Brown said. “At halftime, they had been giving us a lot of trouble. We made the decision to put the ball in our best player’s hands. He had that look in his eyes that he wanted the football and we put him in and gave it to him. We only have 12 seniors and they stepped up tremendously.”

Marcus Jackson connected with Kylon Harris on a 76-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter for the Wildcats.

“It wasn’t favorable conditions,” Brown said. “That’s playoff football. We fought to the end. I’m proud of my players and coaches. We fell behind and fought back and made the plays to win it. We had not worked with a wet ball all season long. We always talk about controlling the controllable. We cannot control weather. We can control how we play. We knew it would be a tough game. We knew out backs would be against the wall, at some point.”

East St. John (6-1) advances to host No. 2 seed John Ehret (8-0) next Friday night at Joe Keller Stadium. The Patriots rallied to edge No. 31 Thibodaux 21-14 in a game aired live at CrescentCitySports.com.

The Wildcats and Patriots are old rivals, having played in the same district in the 1970’s and 1980’s for quite some time.

The names were synonymous with success, including coaches Phil Greco and Jessie Daigle, along with players like Timmy Byrd, Louis Lipps, Norman Jefferson and Tyrone Vaughns, among others.

East St. John won the Class 4A state championship under Greco in 1980, beating Ehret in the regular season. John Ehret won the 4A state championships in 1981 under Daigle in 1981, beating the Wildcats in the regular season.

Having graduated from East St. John, Brown knows the history of the program, the good and the not so good.

“Part of changing the culture here is re-wring the narrative,” Brown said. “We want to prove that we belong with the best and are well coached with good players, rather than being a team that falls behind and gives up. They are buying in. We have an open dialogue and fight to the end. Things are changing right now.”

The rivalry will be renewed with a trip to the quarterfinals on the line.

“We are looking forward to the challenge and looking to take the next step in our growth,” Brown said.