By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE — If last year’s event was any indication, Thursday night’s Ed Reed River Parishes Jamboree at Joe Keller Memorial Stadium will leave fans thrilled, whipping them into the kind of football frenzy that’s just a bit unique to the River Parishes.

The St. John Parish side of the jamboree saw two games go down to the wire before reaching exciting conclusions. First, Riverside snuffed out a West St. John rally with a goal line stand in the game’s waning moments to seal a win. St. Charles and East St. John had a tough act to follow, but the final game proved just as memorable when the Class 2A Comets upset the 5A Wildcats, the deciding points coming on a “swinging gate” two-point conversion pass out of a field goal formation late in the game. SCC won 15-14 while Riverside won 13-8.

All four teams would open the regular season with a victory. Perhaps getting the competitive juices flowing early through a rivalry helps matters?

West St. John coach Robert Valdez said the early matchup with Riverside certainly gets the attention of his players.

“It’s typical of River Parishes football,” Valdez said. “There’s a lot of pride with every school, a lot in their programs. West St. John and Riverside is always been a rivalry. These two teams bring out the best in one another, and you saw a little bit of that last year.”

Valdez said also that with all four local parish teams in competition, the desire to perform well is heightened a bit.

“You do want to put on a good showing, seeing that you don’t just have your fans there, but ones from East St. John, Riverside and St. Charles,” Valdez said. “The kids know what’s at stake.”

Three teams enter this “dress rehearsal” breaking in a new quarterback. East St. John will call upon junior Darion Monroe. Fellow junior Donnie Savoie steps in as St. Charles’ newest passer — a situation that’s nothing new for coach Frank Monica, who has overseen five different opening night quarterbacks in the last five seasons. And West St. John delivers the youngest of the group in freshman Austin Howard, who Valdez and his staff hope to see evolve into a successful four-year starter like the program’s last quarterback, Dray Joseph.

The lone returning starter at quarterback on display will be Riverside’s Darnell Rachal, who enters his third year as the offense’s leader.

Rachal is an exciting playmaker, one of many who will be on display on Thursday night, such as: East St. John all-everything receiver D’haquille Williams; St. Charles electric tailback and return man Marcus Hall; and West St. John jack-of-all-trades Jarius Moll, who will likely play numerous positions and provide a big play threat from each of them.

Each game only lasts a half and won’t count in the standings. Valdez said that in last year’s game he entered hoping not to show too much of the team’s regular gameplan.

But that plan was scrapped quickly.

“By the second half, you’re throwing the kitchen sink out there,” said Valdez. “That competitive nature takes over.”

But at the end of the day, it’s still something of one last practice round against different competition.

Each team hopes to leave healthy and more ready for week one than they were before.

“It takes the pros, what, four games to get it right?” Valdez said with a laugh. “We get a half. You want to get as much shored up as you can.”

Kickoff of West St. John and Riverside will be at 6:30 p.m. ESJ and SCC will face off immediately after.

That same night at Hahnville, all four teams from St. Charles and St. James parishes will be in action. Destrehan will face Lutcher at 6:30 p.m., then Hahnville will follow with a half against St. James.