The ’Ville opens at home; BB, Cecilia on the road

Coming off mixed results in last week’s Lafayette Kiwanis Jamboree, parish high school football teams shift into real season mode this week for the 2016 opening games.
St. Martinville will host the only game in the parish with the Tigers taking on Jeanerette. Breaux Bridge and Cecilia both travel, with The Bridge heading to New Iberia and the Bulldogs visiting the Comeaux Spartans.

BBHS at New Iberia
The Tigers experienced a very intense battle with defending state champion Parkview Baptist in last Friday’s jamboree.
“They were just so physical,” observes coach Terry Martin. “They were able to move us around a lot on both sides of the ball and really kept the pressure on our offense.”
The Tigers managed just one net yard rushing and 57 through the air.
“We had a few communication problems on offense,” Martin admitted, “but that’s to be expected in a jamboree and it shows where we need to do some work.”
The Tigers were their own worst enemy at times, being flagged for a personal foul after stopping an Eagle 4th down attempt and then fumbling a punt at their own 31, setting up Parkview’s second TD.
“But we saw some positive things,” added Martin. Sa’barian Alexander made up for muffing the punt with a 65-yard kickoff return in the second half and Bailey Thibodeaux smashed a 32-yard field goal with a kick that looked like it would have been good from 50 yards out.
“I think our kids learned some things from the jamboree,” says Martin. “We’ll see how they react to adversity and they could see how a lack of discipline can hurt you in a game. I’m confident things are going to get better.
The Tigers travel to New Iberia Friday to help the Yellow Jackets inaugurate their new artificial turf field.
The Jackets lost to cross-town rival Westgate 6-2 in their jamboree game. “They’ve got a new quarterback,” reports Martin. “And it looks like they’re going to be running the ball a bit more than in the past.”
New Iberia topped Breaux Bridge 18-6 in last year’s season opener.

Cecilia at Comeaux
Although his Bulldogs fell behind 20-0 early in last week’s jamboree game against Carencro, coach Dennis Skains was happy with the way the team finished strong, holding the Bears scoreless in the second half and driving for a late touchdown and 2-point conversion.
The ’Dogs unveiled a hurry up offense Skains describes as a “work in progress” that leaned a bit heavily to the pass. Missing from the game were projected starting running back Devin Briscoe and his backup, both sidelined with injuries. Corner back Darius Flenaugh was pressed into duty and scored Cecilia’s only TD on a short run.
“He’s a great athlete,” says Skains, “and we had to move him into the backfield.”
The first-year Bulldog coach liked the way his team appeared still fresh in the second half and was happy with sophomore punter Tanner Oliver, who boomed kicks of 35, 47 and 53 yards.
“We played what amounted to two quarters and closed the margin to 20-8,” he added. “I’m thinking our chances would be good in a four quarter game.”
This week the ‘Dogs face a Comeaux team coming off an emotional jamboree win over St. Thomas More.
“They’ve got a couple of excellent running backs, a game changing receiver and a much improved quarterback,” observes Skains. “And they’re almost as big as Carencro on defense and do a lots of good things.”
Last year Cecilia handed the Spartans a 28-0 shutout.

SM hosts Jeanerette
St. Martinville used a couple of big plays to jump out to a 14-0 halftime lead over Northside in their jamboree game.
Speedy Deantre James keyed both plays, taking an end-around handoff on the first snap and racing 55 yards to set up SM’s first score. Later in the half he got behind the Viking defense and took a well thrown pass form QB Jared Davis 79 yards for a second score.
“Yeah, we had some big plays,” says coach Vincent Derouen, “but we were a bit inconsistent and we seemed to let up, especially on defense, in the second half. We need to develop more of a killer instinct to be successful during the season.”
Davis completed 4-of-8 throws for 107 yards and the long TD but was sacked several times when he held the ball a little too long.
“He sat out the scrimmage so this was his first real action,” says Derouen. “We’ll be working on that part of his game.”
Junior Dylan Wilmore saved the day for the Tigers with a 34-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the game and averaged 43 yards on two punts. “He’s a soccer guy,” Derouen pointed out, “so he can really kick the ball.”
Derouen feels the practices missed due to the recent flooding affected his team’s conditioning and led, in part, to a sluggish second half.
Last year’s season opener against Jeanerette was stopped late in the first half when a fight broke out with the Tigers up by 32-0 and Derouen doesn’t want that happening again.
“Jeanerette had a good jamboree and I’ve stressed to our kids that they have to play smart against them,” says Derouen.