By DAVID FOLSE II

Sports Editor

RESERVE — Riverside Head Coach Mickey Roussel did not want to wait long to face tough competetion.

Roussel’s Rebel squad travels to Destrehan tomorrow night to take on the host Wildcats in the second game of the Destrehan jamboree that is scheduled to start at 8:00.

“Going into a scrimmage you are kind of blind in terms of what you are going to see,” Roussel said. “You talk over the phone, you get formations by word of mouth and stuff like that. But now heading into this jamboree we have film on ourselves and we can make some adjustments and hopefully correct some mistakes and try and get better this week. We also have some film on Destrehan, so we have a pretty good idea of what they are going to do. (Destrehan Head Coach) Steven Robicheaux probably has the same thing.

“But now we have something to work with. We can go in with a game plan. A jamboree is a little bit different than a scrimmage because the special teams are going to be able to play some. We just want to make some corrections this week and put a game plan in against a very good opponent.”

After having a week to review their scrimmage film, Roussel said he was pleased.

“Heading into that scrimmage I thought we could run the football and we were able to do that,” Roussel said. “I knew that we needed to throw the football better and we were not able to do that as well as I wish we would have.

“Defensively I thought we played a little bit better than I expected, especially up front. Our three lineman are all new players and I thought as the scrimmage went on, they got better and better.”

Coming up with a game plan for the Wildcats, Roussel said he is stressing more of what his squad must accomplish as opposed to what they must stop Destrehan from doing.

“I don’ t look at it as what you want to make the other team do,” Roussel said. “For us to have a chance against a good 5A football team we have to be able to control the ball offensively. That means get first downs. We want to try and be able to control the clock and have good time management, move the football and hopefully score.

“Defensively, if you watch the skill players that they (Destrehan) has, especially at quarterback and receiver, we have to be able to eliminate the big play. We have to be able to make them go 10 or 12 plays and score. ”

In order to try and keep the ball away from the Wildcat offense, Roussel said one group of players must especially play well.

“The offensive line,” Roussel said without any hesitation. “That is where we have some new players. They are going to try and eliminate some of the mistakes that they made in the scrimmage.

“I don’t care how good your skill position players are. You could have the best receivers, the best running back and the best quarterback, if we don’t put a hat on their defenders up front, especially with their two tackles, it could be a long night for us.”