RESERVE — The De La Salle Cavaliers (3-0) boast a powerful running game and have built an identity this season as a tough football team. Then again, so have the Riverside Rebels (1-2).

With each coming off bye weeks, they are squaring off Friday in Reserve.

“It’s going to be a clash of two teams that take a lot of pride in the physical style of play they have,” Riverside coach Chris Lachney said. “We’re going to compete our butts off, play with a chip on our shoulder and play with attitude. We’ll look up at the end of the night and see if the scoreboard is on our side.”

The home game offers the Rebels familiar surroundings from 3 to 7 p.m. Friday, but Lachney is quick to point out game location would have little to do with a fortunate outcome following the snap of the football.

Good practices and strong preparation are more important, and the last week-plus provided both.

“How we come out and play against De La Salle, especially early, is going to determine if (last week) was advantageous for us,” Lachney said. “In terms of what we wanted to get done, I think we batted 1.000 last week. Every day we had a purpose, and we got better at that purpose every single day.”

Much like Riverside, the 3A Cavaliers have played a strong schedule this year and boast victories over 4A South Lafourche, 5A St. Augustine and 4A Karr.