Just win baby!!

Al Davis, the former Oakland Raider owner, said it best when he said “Just win, baby”.
And, if Ville Platte High (5-4, 2-2) wishes to keep their playoff position, they would be wise to heed Mr. Davis’ sentiment. Ville Platte has made the playoffs in six of the last nine years.
As of Tuesday, the Bulldogs were the No. 29 seed in the power rankings, ahead of the cutoff of being in the top 32 to even qualify for the playoffs.
However, that placement is a very precarious one in the fact that there are five teams within striking distance of Ville Platte that could overtake them if they falter in their next game.
For the Bulldogs to keep their place in the post-season they must find a way to defeat the surging Church Point Bears tomorrow night at home.
If they can’t make that happen, then they will be reliant upon other teams to determine their playoff fate. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
“We definitely do not want other teams deciding our playoff fate,” stated head coach Jorie Randle. “Bottom line is if we win we are in. If we lose, then it is a matter of numbers. I think we would still be in the playoffs, but you never know what may happen. It is up to us to determine our own fate.”
The weird fact of it all is that Ville Platte has had an almost all or nothing theme this season. In the Bulldog’s five wins, they have held their opponent scoreless. If Ville Platte surrenders any points at all, they have lost.
“For me, it defies logic,” commented Randle. “I mean who would have thought that the games would have turned out that way. It just goes to show you how important a strong defensive effort is. So that tells us if we can keep Church Point off of the scoreboard, we win.”
One major area that Ville Platte must clean up against the Bears is making sure they play a complete game. The Bulldogs have shown times of total dominance this season, but have also shown times of total lack of focus. Last week against Pine Prairie, Ville Platte had 197 yards of offense in the first half, but only 105 total yards in the second half.
“This is something the coaches have preached all year long,” said Randle. “We cannot play a half of a game, especially against the teams in our district. Our motto all year long has been a laser beam focus. We will need that against Church Point.”
The Bears come in to the game with an overall record of 2-7, after starting the season 0-5. However, Church Point played an unbelievably hard pre-district schedule against teams that have a combined record of 38-7.
On top of that, the Bears gave both Eunice High and Northwest High, the two best teams in district, all they can handle, losing to both by a combined 21 points.
“No doubt Church Point is a good football team,” stated Randle. “Coach Arceneaux and his staff do a tremendous job preparing those guys for a game. We will have to come in more focused than we have all season long. For us to win, we will have to play a complete and mistake free game.”