By GEORGE MAHL

West St. John versus Riverside

It is one of those games where records mean nothing. Riverside Academy versus West St. John High School is a rivalry game – pure and simple.

“Throw the records out of the window on this one,” said RA head coach Mickey Roussel. “It is a big one no matter how you look at it. The last 14 meetings have been closely contested games.”

He said the Rebels, 1-3, must eliminate offensive mistakes which have plagued them in the last couple of weeks.

“Sometimes we will get and eight- or 12-play drive and then have a penalty against us,” Roussel said.

When asked if his team could bounce back from a difficult loss to Redeemer-Seton, Roussel said, “Shame on us if we can’t.”

The WSJ Rams are 3-1 and are likely to be the team to beat in District 2A.

“I have been impressed by them. They have gone 3-1 while playing a tough pre-district schedule,” Roussel said.

The Rebels can expect the Rams to come out in a spread offense with backs who can run inside and outside.

“They come at you from all areas of the field. Our goal defensively is to stop them from making big plays that can hurt us,” said Roussel.

Booker T. Washington versus St. Charles Catholic

Even though St. Charles Catholic got a 21-6 victory over Loranger High School last week, head coach Frank Monica felt his club could have played better.

“We had four turnovers in the game. That is something we need to improve upon,” he said.

Monica said the offense appeared sporadic at times and seemed out of sync.

“I think the fact that we had limited practice probably had something to do with it.”

The game marked the first road game for the Comets. The game with Booker T. Washington High School will be the Comets’ fourth home game this season.

Monica said in order to get a victory, his team must do a better job of executing and stay away from turnovers.

“I also think that our special teams can help set up touchdowns for us. We have a good punter that we need to take advantage of,” he said.

All things considered, it is always good to start off the season 3-0.

“I am very pleased about that. If we can cut down on the fundamental errors we will be better than that,” Monica said.

Hahnville versus H.L Bourgeois

The Hahnville High School Tigers are in an unfamiliar position. This will be the team’s first road game of the season. Head coach Lou Valdin tried to put a humorous spin on the matter.

“At least we don’t have to paint the field this week,” he said.

The main thing Valdin wants to accomplish is not allowing his team to beat itself.

“We want to play and execute the same way we did against East St. John on Sunday,” he said.

The HLB Braves feature a solid offensive attack that went to overtime with Central Lafourche earlier in the season.

“We are playing a good football team this week. I just hope we can keep up this momentum,” said Valdin.

H.L. Bourgeois features a type of offense Hahnville has not seen this season and the lack of preparation time it is a concern for Valdin.

“I think the weather may be a bigger concern for us right now. We can’t practice today. I have the head coach’s cell phone number and he has mine. I guess we will just play it by ear,” he said.

The game could feature some explosive plays from both offenses.

“They (HLB) like to run man-to-man, then shift formations,” Valdin said.

According to Valdin, his team is just happy to be 1-0 in District 5A so far.

“We’re thrilled. Especially since the win came against a good East St. John team. I just glad we got that game out of the way so early.”

Lutcher versus Assumption

With no returning starters on defense, things did not look promising for the Lutcher High School football team before the season started. However, the last two weeks the LHS defense has performed well against stiff competition.

“I just can’t say enough about how our guys have played defensively,” said head coach Tim Detillier.

The Bulldogs defense was impressive enough to come up with a 20-2 victory last week over Walker High School.

“We held them in check all night. I think they only had a little over 100 yards total offense,” said Detillier.

The Bulldogs finished with 359 yards of total offense, including 210 yards on the ground.

This week, LHS (2-2) travels to play Assumption, a District 4A school.

“This is just more of the same for our team. It is the fifth week in a row that we have played against a team that is in a higher classification. There is no rest for the weary,” Detillier said.

Detillier said his club must overcome turnovers and cut down on mistakes this week in order to be successful.

“Assumption has got their starting quarterback (Steven Mistretta) this week. They, as always, have got an excellent running back that we will have to stop,” he said.

Offensively, the Bulldogs will have to prevent defensive players Bruce Green and David Nicholls from getting to quarterback Bryce Matherne.

“I think their defense is what makes them such a tough team,” said Detillier.

Not many people expected Lutcher to be 2-2 after the first four games of the season.

“We really were not supposed to win two games this early in the season. This just goes to show you that our defense is stepping up and players are believing that we can improve some more. It’s just amazing,” Detillier said.

St. James versus Amite

Usually when a team wins 20-7 their head coach is very satisfied. Not if your St. James High School head coach Rick Gaille.

“I thought we could have played better against Parkview Baptist. Maybe its because of a lack of preparation we had,” Gaille said.

This week the Wildcats travel to play Amite High School in a rare Thursday night game. Gaille said the game is on Thursday because of a parish fair in Amite.

“I’m very concerned about the weather for this week. It may be tough to get the game in and it may be even tougher to re-schedule it,” said Gaille.

Amite, who defeated McKinley High School 41-0 last week, will come out with a type of offense the Wildcats have not seen so far this year. The Warriors will likely come out with two tight-ends and two running-backs on most plays.

“They (Amite) have improved each and every week. They have a good offense that we’ll have to deal with,” Gaille said.

The key to a Wildcats victory may lie in field position. Gaille said his team’s kicking game has improved and he will try to make the Warriors go the length of the field to score.

“Our defense has been magnificent. If we can play on a short field and make them play on a long field then we will be OK,” he said.

South Lafourche versus East St. John

The East St. John High School Wildcats will look to bounce back after last week’s loss to Hahnville High School when they host South Lafourche High School.

“South Lafourche is as good as we are. We have our work cut out for us,” said Wildcats coach Larry Dauterive.

If the Wildcats want to get a victory, then they will likely need a more consistent rushing attack. ESJ only rushed the ball for 59 yards against Hahnville.

“I think we are capable of 200 yards on the ground each week,” Dauterive said.

The biggest problem for ESJ was they fell so far behind against Hahnville they needed to almost exclusively throw the ball. According to Dauterive, it is always difficult for any team to get a ground game started after falling behind early to a good team.

The biggest concern for the Wildcats heading into this week’s battle with the South Lafourche Tarpons is the defense having some missed assignments.

“We are not splitting atoms here. We’re going to have three days of practice and get a win,” Dauterive concluded.

Central Lafourche versus Destrehan

It is important for Destrehan High School (4-0) not to overlook Central Lafourche High School Friday night. The Fighting Wildcats’ minds may be thinking about Central, while at the same time eyeing the Oct. 11 game against Hahnville. Last week, DHS cruised by Thibodaux, 28-7.

“We played well against Thibodaux. They have some great athletes that gave us a little trouble early,” said head coach Stephen Robicheaux.

Establishing a running game is a goal Robicheaux wants to achieve early in the contest this week. He said Fred Smith will need to have a productive day if DHS is going to win.