ROUNDUP: Riverside, Wildcats & Rams looking for first victory
Published 12:01 am Wednesday, September 5, 2018
- West St. John High quarterback D'andre Gaudia gets in a warm up throw before Friday's game against St. James High.
• Riverside Academy is again going on the road following an opening week defeat in Baton Rouge against Southern Lab, 36-13.
The Rebels held an early 7-0 lead and created two first-half fumbles, but couldn’t maintain the momentum.
Riverside’s play was highlighted by an interception returned for a touchdown by cornerback David Reynaud.
The Rebels were ultimately undone by their rushing defense, which surrendered huge days to a set of Kittens running backs.
The Rebels are traveling to Lake Charles this week to take on the Barbe Buccaneers, who defeated Ponchatoula 49-27 last week.
• East St. John High’s season started on a sour note following a 42-20 home loss to Plaquemine.
The Wildcats started slow (much like their jamboree performance, coaches said) and were behind 28-0 at halftime.
ESJH showed their heart in the second half, scoring 20 points, but it wasn’t enough to turn the game’s favor.
The opponent this week is West Jefferson, who the Wildcats are traveling to battle in Harvey.
The Buccaneers may be reeling, having lost 45-0 to Hahnville.
West Jefferson gave up a blocked punt, came out on the wrong end of a pick-six and was the victim of other turnovers.
• Things started bad and got worse for West St. John High last week in Vacherie, throwing an interception on the Rams’ first pass and failing to recover their second kickoff.
It was 14-0 before most people had grabbed their seats, and the ending was an unforeseen 43-0 loss to St. James High School.
Rams coach Brandon Walters said everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.
“I’d rather it happen now than later in the season, but this is horrible,” Walters said. “No bones about it, this is not the way we play football.”
A strong point for West St. John High was Kylan Duhe, who rushed for 129 yards on 21 carries against St. James High.
The Rams return to the road this week, traveling to Buras to play the South Plaquemines Hurricanes, who are coming off a tough 40-6 defeat at the hands of Belle Chasse.
The Hurricanes managed only 122 yards of total offense in Week 1.
