Ville Platte travels to N. Central hoping to rebound

In the hopes of rebounding from a tough loss at the hands of Lafayette Christian this past Friday, the Ville Platte High Bulldogs (1-2) are looking for renewed energy as they travel to Lebeau to face off against the North Central Hurricanes (0-3). Game time is set for 7 p.m.
According to Ville Platte head coach Jorie Randle, the Bulldogs have a very important matter to clear up before they take on the Hurricanes.
“Against Lafayette Christian, we stunk it up,” said Randle. “We were not mentally focused. We are going to have to learn how to have that laser beam focus. For us it is not the physical part of the game, it is the mental part of the game we are going to have to clean up. We will definitely be challenging the players this week to get that focus back.”
Ville Platte did have some issues last week with some injuries and players having to come out of the game. Randle does not see that as being an issue this week against North Central.
“We had a few players that had to come out of the game last week,” stated Randle. “It wasn’t anything too serious, just some issues with cramps. We don’t want to make any excuses about having players out.”
“For us it’s next man up. The younger guys are going to have to step up when that happens. But, I don’t think there will be any issue this week with players being unable to play.”
Offensively, the Bulldogs did not have a good night against Lafayette Christian. Ville Platte managed only 127 yards of offense, with 30 of those yards on the ground.
The passing game did have some improvement, as Ville Platte completed four of nine passes for 97 yards.
“It is not like us not to have a good game on the ground,” said Randle. “I think that goes back to not having the focus needed. We are usually pretty efficient running the ball. We will definitely try to get that back on track this week.”
The Ville Platte defense held its own against Lafayette Christian for the first half of the game. But, key players were lost during the third quarter, which led to a 274 yard offensive performance by the Knights.
“Defensively, we had a real big letdown in the third quarter,” stated Randle. “We have been playing really well on the defensive side of the ball all year. I expect us to continue to do that this week.”
Even though North Central is winless this season, Randle is not taking anything for granted against the Hurricanes.
“They have some athletes,” said Randle. “They are a spread team, sometimes getting into a five-wide set. They throw the ball a bunch and their quarterback is really good. They will use him to run the ball also. He is their best player. We will have to contain him for us to be successful.”