Bearcats look to stay perfect against St. Edmund’s

The Basile Bearcats and the St. Edmund Blue Jays are all too familiar with each other. These long-time rivals have had some knock out, drag out battles over the years. Some of those battles have been really nasty. However, when the Bearcats travel to Eunice Friday night, the atmosphere will be toned down to a degree according to Basile Head Coach Kevin Bertrand. Game time is set for 7p.m.
“Don’t get me wrong, the competitiveness is still there,” commented Bertrand. “But, I really think that the game has become more of a healthy rivalry. One reason for that, I believe, is that we are not in the same district anymore. Also, the series was just brought back recently and both schools realize that this game is something that is part of a tradition and needs to be kept going.”
If Basile is to continue to stay perfect on the season, the offense is going to have to continue to run the ball effectively. Still, at some point in time, the passing game will be called upon to help when needed. “At some point we will need our passing game to take the pressure off of our running game,” said Bertrand. “Friday against Ville Platte, I didn’t think we played terrible on offense. I just thought that Ville Platte played extremely well on defense. We were very patient and kept the chains moving. We told the kids at half to keep grinding away and something big will happen and it did.”
Big things did happen. Because of the patience shown by the Bearcat offense, Kendrick Ceasar was able to rip off two long touchdown runs of 60 and 78 yards. This occurred despite only managing 228 yards of total offense, a far cry from the 363 yards garnered in week one. All of the 228 yards of offense came on the ground. “When teams are going to load the box to take away our running game, our passing game will have to be ready,” added Bertrand.
Defensively, the Bearcats have been a very stingy team. This was also true Friday against Ville Platte. The Bulldogs could only gain 218 yards of offense against Basile, after amassing over 500 yards the previous week. “I really believe our defense won the game for us,” said Bertrand. “They made an 8-0 lead last until we could put the game away. Ville Platte runs a lot of counter plays and our focus all week was to make sure we stayed home against their offense. Our two safeties, Kyle Francois and Gabe Fontenot did an excellent job for us on defense. All of our guys played really hard against a very talented ball club.”
The one area that may come into play against St. Edmund is special teams. Against Ville Platte, the punting team had a break down that led to the Bulldog’s lone score. “We got caught bunching up in the middle of the field against their return team and they made us pay,” said Bertrand. “We will correct that at practice this week.”
The St. Edmund Blue Jays will present a challenge to Basile, as the Blue Jays have been consistent playoff contenders the last several years. “They have a really good team,” stated Bertrand. “Their quarterback does it all for them.
He runs, passes, punts, kicks and returns. We are going to have to make sure that he does not kill us. Defensively, we will have to make sure they do not beat us on big plays. We need to make them earn whatever offense they get. Their defense is attacking all the time. Our players will have to play very sound football. It should be a very good game.”
If any team knows how to beat the Blue Jays, it is Basile. The Bearcats defeated St. Edmund last year. In any rivalry game, it is important that each player is focused on the task at hand. The emotions of the game can be very strong, especially in this rivalry. A game as important as this one early in the season will be just as mental as physical. Coach
Bertrand and his staff will have to emphasize that to their players if the Bearcats are to remain undefeated on the season.