Opelousas Uses Bye Week to Prepare for Playoffs

Playoff advancement often requires talent and luck.
The Opelousas High football team is also glad for the addition of a recent bye week accompanying the Tigers’ preparation for a Division II regional Donald Gardner Stadium playoff game Friday night against Lakeshore High.
It’s the second straight postseason appearance for Opelousas (9-1) which won the District 5-4A championship outright.
Last year the Tigers finished with a flourish, winning four of the last five games, defeating South Lafourche in a bi-district playoff game and eventually ending the season with a Donald Gardner Stadium defeat to Warren Easton.
This season the road to the playoffs was easier. Third-seeded Opelousas is on a nine-game winning streak during a year that hasn’t been experienced in football since the 1990’s.
Opelousas head coach Jimmy Zachery, Jr., said last week included more casual preparations for Lakeshore (9-2).
“We gave the kids two days off. When we did work out, we worked on the finer details and just recovering mentally and physically from the season. The flu also hit us and we had some guys out. This week it’s back to our normal preparations in order to handle business and get our kids ready for the rest of the postseason,” Zachery added.
Like Opelousas, No. 14 Lakeshore was an outright district champion in 8-4A. The Titans are also on a six-game winning streak and ended district 4-0.
Lakeshore, located in the Mandeville area, is a relatively new school. The first graduating class at Lakeshore was in 2012.
The Titans defeated 14th-seeded Albany (27-8) last Friday in order to advance to the regional round.
Opelousas, which is in the state playoffs for the third time in five years, will continue relying on the offensive and defensive lines which have been instrumental since Zachery became head coach in 2020.
“When I first came here, the focus was in the trenches. If we can do that, then I felt we were going to be successful. Our guys on both sides of the ball along the line of scrimmage enjoy doing the heavy lifting and they get excited when we score or they put pressure on the offense so we can get turnovers,” Zachery said.
For the second straight season, running back Da’Shaun Ford has been the key to the running game behind the offensive line.
Ford has gained 1,375 yards and scored 17 touchdowns this year.
Quarterback Zach Malveaux also a sophomore, has through for over 1,000 yards to receivers Mekhi Jones and Corey Fontenot who each have over 500 reception yards. Jones has six touchdown receptions and Fontenot has four catches for TD’s.
Zachery said Lakeshore is a solid opponent with a punishing running attack and a big, physical line.
“Looking at (Lakeshore) on defense, they have a d-line that is fast and good at running to the ball. Overall they play pretty good defense. Offensively they run the Wing-T. I’m impressed with how hard they play on both sides of the ball,” Zachery said.