Weather plays havoc

As storms continued to roll through the area, the grounds remained highly saturated from recent historical flooding events that took place two weeks ago. Because of that, two parish schools were not able to get in their annual fall scrimmage.
Both Sacred Heart and Basile were washed this past Thursday and Friday and we not see any action against a different opponent until the jamborees tomorrow night.
Basile was supposed to go against DeQuincy last Thursday, but according to Bearcat head coach Kevin Bertand, there was really no way to get on the field to play.
“The scrimmage was scheduled to take place here,” said Bertrand. “But, we just had too much rain over the last few days leading up to it. We tried to move it to DeQuincy because they had not received as much rain as us, but they caught a boatload on Tuesday and Wednesday. So we just decided to cancel. No reason to get someone hurt this early in the season.”
Sacred Heart was all set to face off against Bunkie on Friday. However, just like Basile, the Trojans were unable to escape the amount of water that saturated the field.
“We just felt that the conditions of the field were not right for play,” stated Sacred Heart head coach Josh Harper. “Right now is not the time to go out and have key players go down to injury because of field conditions. We would have liked to see how we have progressed so far, but we will just evaluate ourselves after the jamboree.”
The other parish teams did get the opportunity to have scrimmages. Both Mamou and Pine Prairie traveled north to Tioga and battled in a three-way scrimmage on the turf.
Ville Platte High was supposed to play Lake Arthur at home, but with the threat of flood waters from the Mermentau River knocking on the door, the two teams agreed to cancel. Instead Ville Platte traveled to New Iberia and took on Westgate High School.
After the scrimmage in Tioga, Mamou head coach Brian Brumfield was optimistically enthused with the performance of his squad.
“Overall, I thought we played well at times,” stated Brumfield. “Offensively, we ran the ball effectively. We had some trouble in the passing game because our starting quarterback Levi Fontenot went out with an ankle injury. Our back-up did a decent job, but the timing was off with the receivers; which is to be expected. Defensively, I was impressed at how we flew to the football. Our guys up front and our line backers played extremely well. I was particularly impressed with one freshman, Parker Granger. He made some big plays in the backfield.”
Although Brumfield was pleased with the progress his team has made, he still sees some areas that need improvement.
“Our secondary made some mistakes coverage wise that lead to a couple of scores,” said Brumfield. “We are young back there, so it may take some time to get them on the same page. We also had some missed tackles. All of those things are correctable and can be worked on at practice. For the most part, I thought we did a good job.”
Pine Prairie head coach Yves Prince was also excited about some of the things he saw in his young Panther squad this past Friday.
“We opened the scrimmage against Tioga and marched down the field and scored in the first ten plays,” stated Prince. “That was a great start. Our offense looked impressive in that drive. What caught my eye was the way our fullback Clint Graser ran the ball. If he stays healthy, he will be a force.”
“Defensively, I really thought our big men up front played well,” Prince continued. “They carried out their assignments and allowed our linebackers to make plays. Overall, I was impressed with our progress.”
However, Prince did see some areas that will need to be tweaked in the next few weeks. For the Panthers, it will all be determined by how well their younger players come around.
“Our youth showed at linebacker and in the secondary,” said Prince. “We are playing with freshmen and sophomores at those positions and we have all new players in the defensive backfield. With that came a number of missed tackles. Our guys just over pursued. And, up front on offense we had too many missed assignments. All of these things are fixable and we will continue to work on them.”
Ville Platte High head coach Jorie Randle knew he had a tough task at hand when he and his team traveled to New Iberia to take on Class 5A Westgate. However, Randle was very enthusiastic with the overall performance of the Bulldogs.
“We came out with a ton of excitement and a level of readiness I wasn’t expecting,” said Randle. “Even with a short weather delay after our first drive, the players did not play flat the entire scrimmage. We were able to move the ball and our defense flew to the plays. I am really pumped about the genuine enthusiasm we showed.”
Randle did find a couple of small areas that will need improving headed into the season. Most of those areas dealt with the fact that they are playing some fairly young players at key positions. “One thing we will need to address is the running back spot,” said Randle. “We had a new starter at the position and he broke some long runs that could have resulted in touchdowns, but unfortunately he fumbled the ball. But, he will be fine. Also, I thought our offensive line missed some assignments up front. That can be corrected at practice as they learn the game itself and not just who to block.”