Panther battle on tap in Pine Prairie Friday

BY: TRACEY JAGNEAUX
Sports Editor

It will be a battle of the Panthers tomorrow night in Pine Prairie, as the Evangeline Parish version of the Panthers will host Bunkie High School. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
Pine Prairie is hoping to erase a disappointing performance in the jamboree last Friday. The Panthers lost to Ville Platte 28-0 in a game of miscues. Pine Prairie turned the ball over three times and had five penalties for 31 yards.
Panther head coach Yves Prince hopes to get his offense and defense back on the right path tomorrow night.
“We are going to have to come out ready to play this Friday,” said Prince. “It looked like we were nervous against Ville Platte. We haven’t lost an opening game since I’ve been here; I’m not ready to do that this year.”
Offensively, Pine Prairie could only muster 26 yards on 26 plays. This is an area of concern for Prince.
“We are shuffling our offensive line this week,” stated Prince. “Hopefully, that will help the fumbled snaps. We just need to come off of the ball like we did against Tioga in the scrimmage.”
Ville Platte exploited the Panther defense for 204 yards last week. However, the Panthers did stay in a base defense the entire night.
“We moved to a five man front in the second half against Ville Platte,” commented Prince. “I think that helped us. It will be up to us to play assignment football against Bunkie if we want to have a chance to win.
Bunkie defeated Marksville 13-0 and lost to Avoyelles 16-6 last week in their jamboree. The Panthers were 3-7 in 2014.