Fans on the eastside of the parish can see four of their teams play in one location as Salmen hosts a jamboree tonight with two games on tap as a prelude to the opening of the 2010 campaign. Kickoff for the first contest begins at 6 p.m. and the games consist of a pair of 15-minute halves.

The first match-up features Slidell’s Tigers and the Northshore Panthers followed by Salmen’s Spartans against the Pearl River Rebels.

For Slidell and Northshore, both teams are looking to return to postseason play after missing out last year.

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The squads met in the jamboree last season and Northshore won 14-6. Like they will do this year, the teams met on the final day of the regular season and SHS captured a 33-6 victory.

Slidell finished with a 5-5 record, while Northshore went 2-8.

Tigers’ coach Artie Liuzza said the jamboree is like a dress rehearsal.

“You want to see how your guys perform under pressure,” Liuzza said. “You want to see if your special teams can get their people out there without calling a timeout. You want to see if your offense can get 11 people on the field. You practice that, but you want to see if you can do that in a game situation.”

Slidell runs a spread offense with junior Bradley Myers at quarterback.

The running backs are seniors Jonathan Miles and Stephen Smith.

Last season, Miles ran for 700 yards. Smith, a St. Paul’s transfer, tallied 981-rushing yards and 10 scores with the Wolves in 2009.

Defensively, Slidell is multiple.

Liuzza said Gavin Toussaint played well during last Friday’s scrimmage at Parkview Baptist.

For Northshore, coach Mike Bourg said his club is trying to improve

“It’s all about getting better,” Bourg said. “It’s not about (playing) Slidell High, we’re trying to get ready for the season. We’re preparing for what Slidell runs, but we’re not putting an emphasis on Slidell week. That’s the 10th-playing date.”

Offensively, the Panthers run the spread.

The competition continues for the starting quarterback job between junior Steven Gaines and senior Eric Verzwyvelt. Bourg said both would get reps tonight.

Bourg also said senior running back Patrick Johnson and sophomore Marshall Wadleigh ran well for his club in their scrimmage against Belle Chasse last Friday.

The wide receivers are junior Jared Faciane, also a running back, junior Quinn Harris and junior tight end Delshawn Hogan.

Defensively, Northshore runs a 3-3 base. Bourg said he was happy with the play of the linebacking corps, which includes seniors Devin Busby, James Johnson and Eugene Young along with juniors Nick Ledet and Steve Geurcia.

Johnson picked off a pass and safety Josh Dakin made a hit that knocked the ball loose, causing an incompletion.

Bourg said he felt his line did a good job of controlling the front.

The two meet again Nov. 5, but that one counts toward their record.

In game two, Salmen and Pearl River do battle.

The two are pretty familiar with each other as they competed against each other three times last year and Salmen won all three.

The Spartans captured the jamboree 49-17, the final regular season game 34-7 and then the first-round of the playoffs 41-7.

Salmen comes in after Destrehan to scrimmaging.

Spartans’ coach Jerry Leonard said his goal is to improve on what they did against Destrehan.

He said the team played with a lot of enthusiam and effort, but Leonard thought there were too many mental mistakes.

“I know the score was kind of in our favor if you were keeping score, but I wasn’t happy with the mental aspect of our game,” Leonard said. “I thought we made some mental mistakes that need to be corrected or else they’re going to come back and bite us at some point.

That’s our big thing right now, if we can play with the same enthusiam and effort, but not make the mental mistakes, I think we’re going to be a lot better football team.”

Leonard said no single player stood out.

“I felt like it was a good-team effort kind of thing. I thought the defense ran to the ball well, but made to many mental mistakes to be proud of that.

Offensively, I thought the line stepped up a little bit and our skill guys that we expect to make plays made plays. it’s hard to call one person’s name out when it’s such a team thing.”

Offensively, the Spartans run a spread with seniors Matt Lipham and Daniel Sams calling signals.

Last season, Lipham threw for 1,289 yards, 14 touchdowns and six interceptions. Sams was the Spartans’ leading rusher with 610 yards and five scores.

Pearl River first-year coach Chris Thomas said defensively, his club needs to contain Salmen’s quarterbacks.

“We have to try and keep them in the pocket, especially the Sams kid,” Thomas said.

The main go-to guy for the QBs is senior Jamal Robinson, who had 44 catches for 516 yards and six scores in 2009.

Defensively, tackle Malcolm Pichon anchors the line and returns after posting 87 tackles last season. The ends are seniors T.J. Price and Ben Ryen. The linebackers include seniors Joshua Adams, Claude Schick and Kyre Green along with junior Alonzo Stokes and sophomore Emanuel Terrel.

The backs have a lot of seniors, including Joron Adams, Chrishawn Dupuy and D’juan Mackey. Adams had five interceptions last season.

For Pearl River, the Rebels enter this season after reaching the playoffs the past two. They’ve installed a new offense and is now running multiple.

Freshman Chase Moore gets the start for the Rebels, while Aaron Roberson joins him in the backfield at running back.

The wide receivers are senior Nathaniel Steigler along with juniors Jordan Vicknair, Gabriel Wiley and sophomore Jerry Davis.

Defensively, the Rebels are running a 3-5. Thomas said junior inside linebacker Julian Carter played well in their scrimmage last Friday against De La Salle.

“He’s got some strength, speed and athletic ability,” Thomas said. “We’re just trying to get him in the right spot and play off his and everybody else’s ability.”

If you’re planning on attending the jamboree, tickets cost $7 for everyone.