RESERVE — District play is here and, according to head coach Alden Foster, it’s time for East St. John High (1-2) to get serious.

“We’re 0-0 in district,” Foster said. “We played two good football teams (in our losses) and the scores didn’t indicate how close the games were.”

The Wildcats host the Central Lafourche Trojans (1-2) this week in Reserve, with each team looking to set a tone for district play, an important factor in playoff seeding.

The Trojans enter the game on a high, having defeated South Lafourche last week, 36-24. Central Lafourche didn’t score in the first quarter but came on strong late in securing the rivalry game victory.

Kevin M. Sampey II and David Robinson Jr. lead the Trojans’ steady run game, which is capable of gaining tough yards between the tackles and breaking off long runs.

They will be met by a capable Wildcats defense, which has played well all year, only slipping late in the team’s two loses because of extended time on the field, coaches say.

According to Foster, the Wildcats would be served on many fronts with consistent play from their offense, which was shut out last week against McDonogh 35.

“It’s execution, and we have to find our identity,” Foster said. “We have to get more physical up front in the passing game and the running game. We have our work cut out for us. We played hard, but we have to finish.”

Foster said costly penalties that end drives on offense and extend drives on defense are mistakes that must improve for East St. John High going forward.

“If we can clean up these penalties, we could make a lot more plays,” Foster said. “We have to learn from it and move on.”

West St. John at Plaquemine

Riding a two-game winning streak, the Rams (2-1) return to the road this week with a battle against the Plaquemine Devils.

“Plaquemine has a really good program, but we’re looking forward to the test and we are ready to play,” West St. John High head coach Brandon Walters said. “They are pretty big and physical. They are a real good team in every sense of the word, but we’re up for the challenge.”

The Rams are sure to find a hungry opponent in Plaquemine (2-1), which had its two-game wining streak snapped last week in a shutout loss to St. Thomas More, 35-0.
Before that, the Devils posted wins over Port Allen and East St. John by a combined margin of 84-21.

The Rams are fresh off a 35-12 road drubbing of Bonnabel in Kenner.

According to Walters, West St. John is getting exceptional play from running backs Kylan Duhe and Niko Roy, as well as defensive end Covan Varnes.

“They’ve been working hard, having a lot of success and utilizing their skill sets,” Walters said, adding their preparation in practice is showing up Friday nights during game time.

St. Charles Catholic vs. Country Day

Defense continues to be the Comets’ calling card in 2017, as St. Charles Catholic (3-0) is coming off its second shutout in three games.

“They are playing hard,” head coach Frank Monica said. “The coaching staff has put them in an excellent position. We’re at a good level, but there’s another level we can play at if we line up right.”

Continuing that trend will be tougher this week as the Comets play Metairie Park Country Day in LaPlace.

The Cajuns will come to St. John the Baptist Parish with a well-earned reputation as a disciplined squad that makes few mental errors, allows only 17 points per game on defense and sports solid quarterback play, Monica said.

SCC will surely enjoy the familiar home surroundings following last week’s road win (20-0) against Wilkinson County, Mississippi. After leading just 7-0 following the first half, the Comets upped the offensive pressure with 13 third-quarter points and kept the defensive smothering in place over the game’s final 24 minutes.

Despite the victory, coaches saw numerous places for improvement.

“I think we were sluggish and very clumsy in Mississippi,” Monica said. “When traveling, you have to be prepared, and we underestimated the team. It was a very sloppy performance on our part.”

Riverside open date

The Rebels (1-2) have a break in their schedule this week before playing at home against De La Salle in Week 5.

Riverside Academy coach Chris Lachney said his three goals for this week are to get healthy, focus heavily on team-specific tendencies and start the preparation for De La Salle.

“If we accomplish those three things, then we would have taken good advantage of this off week,” Lachney said.

The first-year Rebels head coach said his players have “busted their butts and played some of the best teams in the state of Louisiana” through the first three weeks of the season and have nothing to hold their heads down about.

“I’m not proud of them because of the outcome of anything,” Lachney said Monday morning. “We don’t evaluate ourselves ever on results. That is a mind set that we have cultivated here and fostered and we’re not going to change it because we happen to be 1-2, instead of 2-1 or 3-0. We’re not going to let the results of anything dictate who we are or our approach to anything.”

Playing the likes of Southern Lab, Barbe and Rummel through three weeks has illuminated the team’s weaknesses early, allowing more time to reach top performance.

“I believe that we have an advantage over a lot of people right now, maybe who haven’t played as difficult a schedule as we have because we know who we are right now and what we have to fix,” Lachney said. “We look at it as getting an eight-week head start on everybody else in terms of knowing what mistakes we are fixing.”

The Rebels are coming off a tough, 38-34 loss to Rummel Saturday at Joe Yenni Stadium in non-district action.

Jordan Loving led the team with 545 yards passing and four touchdowns, which went to Kash Foley, Garland Robertson, Jalen Banks and Jeremiah Bigham.
Jeremy Gibson was the leading Rebels rusher with 47 yards on the ground.

— Staffers Stephen Hemelt and Brooke Robichaux contributed to this report.