By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

West St. John faced Haynesville in the 2011 quarterfinals and the 2012 semifinals of Class 1A, earning victory the first time but falling short in the second.

Senior tailback Bradley Borne remembers both trips, but the second was the one on his mind after his team wrapped up its quarterfinal victory over Plain Dealing Friday night.

“We wanted to go back to Haynesville,” Borne said. “It didn’t work out for us last time, but we wanted another chance and now we’ve got it.”

The Rams will indeed travel to face off with the defending 1A champion Golden Tornados in what’s become a rivalry between two of the state’s most storied programs. Both teams have captured state championships and both have built a reputation of felling larger schools on their way to doing so. Haynesville’s title win last season was the 16^th in the program’s history.

This will be West St. John’s fourth consecutive state semifinal appearance.

“These are two recognizable names in Louisiana high school football,” West St. John coach Robert Valdez said. “Two really good programs. Though we’re young, we’ve been able to maintain that winning tradition at West St. John.

“If we’re going to play for a championship, it’s only fitting that we’d have to go through a program like Haynesville. If you want to be the best, you’ve got to be the best.”

The two most recent games between the teams were similar in one way in that each was a close, back-and-forth contest.

Otherwise, the games were polar opposites in many ways. The first was a defensive war, a 15-8 victory won late on Kylum Favorite’s 30-yard go-ahead touchdown run. West St. John went on to finish as state-runner up.

In 2012, the stakes were higher: the winner of Haynesville/West St. John would advance to the Superdome. This time, Haynesville pulled out a wild 36-35 victory, the winning points on Tyus Early’s late third quarter score.

Haynesville rushed for 432 yards in that semifinal matchup between the teams, which featured 931 combined offensive yards.

Valdez said he and his coaching staff have taken note of the things that ultimately led to a loss in that game, and will adjust accordingly.

One tweak to the gameplan could be the Rams’ usual breakneck offensive pace giving way to a slightly more methodical approach.

“We were riding into that 2012 game on a wave of offensive efficiency,” Valdez said, alluding to the early days of the Rams’ Oregon-style no-huddle. “We were scoring at will. We jumped out ahead (of Haynesville) early, then they came back … We almost scored too fast. If we score in one or two plays, then Haynesville comes out with their Wing-T, runs a bunch of plays and wears you down.

“I love the Oregon style, but this may be a case where we have to pick our poison in terms of tempo.”

Haynesville is led by Arizona-committed quarterback Kendrick Jackson, who doubles as a dangerous middle linebacker defensively.

The Golden Tornados bested East Beauregard, 14-0, in the quarterfinal round. Haynesville didn’t roll up the big offensive numbers it’s accustomed to, but held East Beauregard to just 163 yards of total offense. Other notable Haynesville wins have come over defending Class 3A champion Union Parish, 21-20 in Week Two, a 16-13 win over 3A North Webster and a 26-12 victory over Plain Dealing, who WSJ bested in last week’s quarterfinal.

Defensively, Haynesville has been stout all season, and it does it via an aggressive, man-to-man coverage scheme.

That makes the battle at the line of scrimmage more important than ever. If the Rams can run successfully, Valdez said, it’ll force Haynesville out of its base sets. That would give Rams’ leading receiver Morell Bartholomew a chance to make plays against a single defender.

“That’s what I’d like to see, for sure,” Valdez said. “We knew we needed him to have a big year for us, and he’s delivered. If they do go man up on him, we’ll take our shots. If they double him, then that takes someone out of the picture somewhere else.

“Last week they tried to take him out, and it gave Lamore Boudoin some room to operate out the backfield. We’ll adjust to what we see.”

The good news for the Rams’ defense is it should be well-versed in facing the Wing-T, which district foes St. John-Plaquemine, White Castle and Ascension Catholic all run.

“The more you see, the more you get,” Valdez said. “Your kids recognize things faster after seeing so many reps. We have to be very disciplined and not fall for the deception (the Wing-T) brings. It’s tough to simulate in practice.”