Photograph: OC RB Chris Brown breaks into the open field for a gainer against Beau Chene High School. (Photograph by Mike Curley.)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
Now that scrimmages are completed, St. Landry Parish football teams are finishing preparations for their final 2022 preseason appearances – jamboree games which occur Thursday and Friday nights.
Here’s a look at what the coaches think about the jamborees and their conclusions about how their teams looked in scrimmages last week.
OPELOUSAS HIGH
Scrimmage Outtake
Head coach Jimmy Zachery, Jr., had his Tigers in Baton Rouge last Friday for a three-way scrimmage against Belaire and Scotlandville.
“I thought we looked good at times on defense, playing a lot of young guys. Offensively, we looked good on only a couple of drives. We played with a 10-minute running clock, so you didn’t always see what you wanted.
The Jamboree
“We’re looking forward (to playing Northwest). We are going to work on some more things, but the game is a rivalry, which hasn’t been played for a couple of years. It’s a good game for the community and I know the teams have been looking forward to it for some time,” Zachery said.
ST. EDMUND
Scrimmage Outtake
The Blue Jays played Ville Platte High and Slaughter Charter School in another three-way scrimmage that SEHS head coach James Shiver thought showed promise for his young team.
“We’re real young this year with only a handful of seniors. I thought we did well defensively, while offensively we scored four times (against Slaughter) and another two against Ville Platte. What I liked is we were aggressive and we didn’t back down any,” Shiver said.
The Jamboree
St. Edmund will play Iota in the second game of the school-hosted Jamboree at Blue Jays Stadium.
“We will run the same things we did in our scrimmage, but most of all what we want to do is come out of the jamboree healthy. I don’t expect to show anything that we plan to do later this year. Iota is a good opponent, big and physical,” Shiver said.
EUNICE HIGH
Scrimmage Outtake
The Bobcats scrimmaged at Kaplan last week and EHS head coach Andre Vige was pleased with his team’s performance.
“I thought we did better than I expected. Guys like our receiver Tryon Cooper had four catches for 109 yards and our quarterback (Josh Brown) threw for 108. We outscored Kaplan 3-1.
The Jamboree
Eunice plays North Vermilion in the Acadia-Vermilion Jamboree in a game that has been moved to Clark Field in Lafayette.
“We are going to play on a turf field and North Vermilion will give us a chance to see where we are in order to start the season. I want to see if we can continue improving with the defense and sustain what we did against Kaplan in the scrimmage,” Vige said.
WESTMINSTER CHRISTIAN
Scrimmage Outtake
The Crusaders hosted a scrimmage with Vermilion Catholic last week, a team that is considered to win a district title.
WCA head coach Travis Blaize said the scrimmage displayed some positives, while uncovering a number of things the Crusaders have to perfect.
“We did a lot of things in the scrimmage, starting out with a joint practice then going with some live periods one-on-one and seven-on-seven. I thought we had a lot of good drives going and our freshman quarterback (Stephen George) made the type of plays we expected him to make,” Blaize said.
The Jamboree
Westminster will host a Friday night jamboree and play the second game against Ascension Episcopal.
“We will be competing against another quality opponent in our jamboree. What we are looking to do is play well and get some momentum going into the season. The only way you do that is to play teams like VC and Ascension,” said Blaize.
NORTH CENTRAL
Scrimmage Outtake
North Central went to North Iberville for a scrimmage last week and Hurricanes’ head coach Jacob Carruth said he is encouraged about the way his team performed.
“I thought we got a lot accomplished and looked much better than I thought we would. We didn’t run a lot of plays and we held some guys out because we didn’t want to get them hurt. Our quarterback Craig Malveaux settled in and made some touchdown throws and we had some good runs by Ian Campo. Our offensive line protected and I was pleased with their performances. We didn’t give up a sack. I think we came out of the scrimmage with a good feeling,” Carruth said.
The Jamboree
The Hurricanes play Port Barre Friday night in the first game of the St. Landry Parish Jamboree.
“The Jamboree counts for us as far as momentum. Right now we have more excitement (about football) than we have had in the last few years and winning a jamboree will only give us some momentum, excitement and confidence,” Carruth said.
NORTHWEST
Scrimmage Outtake
The Raiders hosted a scrimmage against LaGrange and head coach Chris Edwards noticed there are several things that will require his attention.
“I thought the offensive line blocked well at times while our back missed a couple of holes. I am not too happy with the back end (of the defense) particularly our secondary. For a first time with the Wing-T, I thought we looked good. Donovan Thomas had a couple of touchdown catches. Javian Reese ran for 80 yards on seven carries,” said Edwards.
The Jamboree
Edwards said he won’t expand the Raiders’ playbook for the jamboree.
“What we are going to do with the jamboree is use it to build on what we have already done. Opelousas is going to be big and physical, so it’s going to be a big test for us. It’s a good game for both programs and the schools, so it’s something everyone is looking forward to,” Edwards said.
PORT BARRE
Scrimmage Outtake
Port Barre hosted Oberlin in a Friday scrimmage and Red Devils’ head coach Craig Stevens said the format used for the event became an introduction for many of his players.
“What we were interested to see is how our young guys reacted. A lot of them got their feet wet, but now we have a lot of film on them and we will let them see what they did well and what they need to correct. You could call it a good starting point,” said Port Barre head coach Craig Stevens.
The Scrimmage
Stevens expects to play as many as four or five freshmen against North Central.
“We have so many young players that played with our (first team) so it will be another learning experience for them. I know North Central is going to be a lot better than you might have seen in the previous years, so we are expecting a tough game from them,” Stevens added.
BEAU CHENE
Scrimmage Outtake
Beau Chene head coach Marques Lewis was pleased with his offensive performance in the scrimmage at Opelousas Catholic last week.
“Coming in our offensive line was a big question mark, but they did some good things that allowed us to make some big plays. I don’t think we had any sacks and guys like Matthew Mayfield and Cornell Jones made some catches for us. Our quarterback Jai’Khy Sharp made some good throws and ran well,” Lewis said.
The Jamboree
Lewis said he hopes to emerge from the jamboree game against the Eunice junior varsity without any injuries.
“In that game we are going to be looking at a lot of things. Right our issue is depth and getting young players to help when the injuries occur. That is what we will be thinking about when we play Eunice,” Lewis added.
OPELOUSAS CATHOLIC
Scrimmage Outtake
The Vikings looked about as expected against Beau Chene, said OCS head coach Thomas David.
“We have a way to go, but like I told the team, you really don’t want to be playing your best football at this point in the season,” David said.
OCS surrendered some big plays against Beau Chene, but David said the problems he saw are correctable.
“Offensively I thought we looked pretty good. But there are some things that you really want to work on right now and we are paying attention to those,” David said.
The Jamboree
OCS plays Catholic High-New Iberia at 6 p.m. at St. Edmund and one focus will be correcting some of the defensive issues that were apparent in the scrimmage.
“I think the biggest things we need to correct are the mental things. We have the same six or seven guys who played for us on defense last year who are in a new system. Some of those guys right now might be in different spots, so we will work on correcting that,” said David.
Westminster Christian Academy Scrimmage Photographs by Steven Moody.
