By GEORGE MAHL-Sports Editor

Area teams continue to geer up for the upcoming football season. Several teams will be holding scrimmages over the next couple of days. Hahnville will be scrimmaging Higgins, East St. John will scrimmage Hammond, Lutcher takes on West St. John and St. James will tangle with Abramson in a scrimmage.

St. James Wildcats

Over in Vacherie, St. James Head Football Coach Rick Gaille is excited about not only the football season, but the school year in general.

“The addition of having a seventh and eighth grade and the expansion of the campus makes everything very good right now,” Gaille said. “We are continuing to improve with each practice,” he said.

He added that everyone seems to be excited and ready to go for another season. ” I have been happy with the progress we have made in each practice, our coaching staff and the overall situation,” said Gaille, who has been at St. James since 1992.

New starting quarterback Nick Narcisse will replace the graduated Blake Falgoust behind center. ” He has made a lot of improvement since last spring. I think he is getting more and more comfortable as time goes on,” Gaille said.

East St. John Wildcats

East St. John Head Football Coach Larry Dauterive is just as pleased as Gaille is, regarding his practices. The Wildcats had 10 practices in five days recently.

“Right now, we are just focussing on fundamentals and getting ready for Hammond (scrimmage, tommorow) and West St. John (jamboree),” said Dauterive.

One of things the second-year Wildcats coach is happy with is the way his defense is adjusting to a new scheme put in by Defensive Coordinator Kyle Acosta.

” I am pleased with the way the guys taken to this scheme. Everyone is enthusiastic about it and has bought into it,” Dauterive said.

He said he is also impressed with the cohesiveness of his club this year.

” Our guys have the right attitude right now. We have no pre-madonna’s on this team,” Dauterive said.

The play of kicker Alex Mccollum and QB Ryan Perrilloux is something that he is very happy with. ” We sort of had punter and kicker by committee threw the first three or four weeks of the season last year. Then Alex came along and did a fine job for us. I think that is a key because his kickoffs can go into the endzone,” Dauterive said.

He said he enjoys his defense practicing against Perrilloux because of the velocity Perrilloux has on his passes. “I think it’s a good test for our defense every time Ryan throws the ball,” said Dauterive.