Trojans ready to battle Iota Friday in season opener

BY: TRACEY JAGNEAUX
Sports Editor

With the season opener on tap tomorrow night, the Sacred Heart Trojans are seeking to get off on the right track, as they battle the Iota Bulldogs in Iota. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
Last Friday, Sacred Heart got an early test for their squad at the Joe Nagata Jamboree held at Eunice High. Even though the Trojans fell to perennial powerhouse Eunice 27-7, head coach Josh Harper was pleased with the effort of his squad.
“We played hard throughout the game,” said Harper. “The players came ready to play and gave a really good effort. Eunice is a solid 3A club. I was extremely proud of the effort shown by our club.”
Despite some early setbacks, Sacred Heart did manage to put together a long drive against the Bobcats toward the end of the game, resulting in a score.
The eight play drive was capped off when Seth Shipp collected a 10 yard pass from Garrick Fontenot in the end zone.
On the night, Shipp had two catches for 16 yards and a touchdown. Julien Vidrine led all Trojan rushers with 32 yards on five carries.
Harper pointed out that even though Sacred Heart only put the ball across the goal once in the game, the offense did have their moments.
“We were not that far from keeping the game closer offensively,” stated Harper. “We were one block away or one step away from a huge run. I was really happy to see us sustain a drive at the end of the game. Now the offense knows that they can move the football when everything falls into place.”
According to Harper, there are some areas on the offensive side of the ball that need addressing.
“Our timing was off,” commented Harper. “We need to get better at that. We also need to clean up the snaps. There were a few snaps that were off and that has a big effect on the timing of the offense.”
Harper was a little more critical of the play of the defense. However, with the coaching staff only having a few weeks to put in schemes, Harper knows that the defense will come around.
“With the coaches being hired so late, we came in and focused more on offense,” said Harper. “About 80 percent of the time we had up to this point, we worked on offense. We will clean up the miscues on defense. I just want them to go out and play a little more physical this week.”
For the Trojans, Iota will be a good test of what class 2A will be like. The Bulldogs are coming off of a 38-7 jamboree loss to highly ranked Church Point. The Bulldogs were 0-10 in 2014 and are rebuilding under new head coach Josh Andrus.
“I think we match up well size wise and talent wise against Iota,” stated Harper. “Their strength is the defensive front. If we can take care of the ball and cleanup the mistakes, I think we can compete against them Friday.”