Mandeville’s Skippers take on the Class 3A Holy Cross Tigers in the opener with a 6 o’clock kickoff followed by the host Lions gearing up against the John Curtis Patriots. The jamboree features two 15-minute halves.
Mandeville coach Guy LeCompte got a nice showing from his spread offense in last week’s scrimmage against Archbishop Shaw as the Skippers’ quarterbacks were successful through the air.
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Prior to the season, LeCompte said he was excited about his group of talented receivers, which he feels is the deepest unit he has had as he enters his fifth season at the helm.
MHS finished 7-4 last year, earning a second place district finish (6-1), one game behind district champ St. Paul’s.
LeCompte said he and his coach’s use the jamboree to continue to evaluate players and build on depth at certain positions.
“Holy Cross is a well disciplined program and they have an excellent coaching staff heading up by Barry Wilson. It should be a good quality jamboree giving the players an opportunity to play under the lights,” LeCompte said.
“Offensively they look pretty sharp. They do a good job of executing their offense and they don’t make too many mistakes,” LeCompte added.
LeCompte said he is placing emphasis on special teams and wants his club to avoid mental mistakes and penalties.
“We will want to see what adjustments we can make from last week’s scrimmage to become an improved unit,” LeCompte said.
Holy Cross head coach Barry Wilson is entering his eighth year with the Tigers, which finished 9-3 last season. The Tigers made it to the regional round of the playoffs last year, falling to Rayville 27-20.
Wilson said his coaching staff and players look forward to playing quality teams and he said Mandeville is in that category.
“Mandeville is an excellent football team and is well coached. We enjoy playing them. They have a nice spread offense, which is what we run. Playing Mandeville gives us an opportunity to check our offense and defense, which are similar. More people are using the spread more than an other offense in both high school and college these days,” Wilson said.
“Mandeville is quick and aggressive. They always give us great looks. They do things right. They call the right blitzes and defensive coverages, which helps you get better as a team. When you play good teams like Mandeville you get to learn a lot about your own football team,” Wilson added.
Holy Cross has 11 seniors on its roster, returning six starters on offense and eight on defense.
Senior quarterback Ryan Deemes (6-1, 185) triggers the Tigers’ offense.
“Ryan is a seasoned quarterback. He’s a fine athlete who also likes to run the ball. When he tucks it and runs he is dangerous. He’s a dual threat,” Wilson said.
Holy Cross has a trio of talented receivers including senior Darryl Watson (5-11, 170), who coach Wilson describes as a dangerous receiver and returns kicks. Junior Joel Pichon (6-1, 175) joins Watson along with senior Taylor Eymard (6-0, 180), who is also the Tigers’ punter.
“They present a lot of problems because all three can catch the football and are dangerous after making the reception,” Wilson said.
Tigers’ junior running back Kevin Joseph (5-6, 160), a first year starter, possesses good speed and quickness to get up field.
Defensively, the Tigers senior middle linebacker is Brenton Bowman (5-9, 200), who his coach described as a collision kind of guy, who loves to hit and enjoys contact.
Senior DE Stephen Kleamenakis (5-11, 225) presents a physical presence up front.
“Stephen is an all-state wrestler, who can play the run and is also an effective pass rusher,” coach Wilson said.
Junior cornerback Ed Eagan and sophomore Ki-Jana Curtis lead the Tigers’ secondary.
Covington earned a third place District 7-5A finish last year going 4-3 dropping their final two district games against St. Paul’s and Mandeville, which finished 1 and 2 in the district race.
CHS finished with a 4-6 record as head coach Malter Scobel enters his third season with the Lions.
Scobel wants to get back to a power running game this season. In last week’s scrimmage against Warren Easton, the Lions featured three freshmen backs including Robert Brown, Andrew Breeland and Antoine Brumfield, helping to account for about 200 yards on the ground.
CHS scored twice in the scrimmage with Brown racing in from 65 yards out and senior wide out Jay Bickham caught a 25-yard swing pass from junior quarterback John McDowell to account for the Lions’ other tally. The Lions’ defense did a good job holding Warren Easton to just one score. Junior defensive end Eric Crouch came up big with two fumble recoveries and also caused one, while junior backer Otha Peters forced a fumble to lead the Lions’ defense.
Scobel praised the play of his young secondary, which held its own against an agile Warren Easton quarterback and a good spread offense. Junior DB Charles Silas picked off a pass
Curtis head coach J. T. Curtis, who was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame earlier this year, is entering his 42nd season as the head coach of the Patriot’ football program.
He has a record of 480-52-5 to go with 23 state championships.
The Patriots finished last season 13-1 being edged by the Evangel
Eagles 18-13 in the Class 2A championship game played in the Dome.
Curtis talked about playing in the Covington Jamboree tonight.
“We are going against a good Covington football team. We will need to control the ball on offense to keep it away from their talented skill players. They will want to establish their power running game so we need to keep the ball out of their hands,” Curtis said.
“We’re going to be a little bit younger this year. We’re working on finding out who can step up and be physical for us. We lost a number of seniors, but that happens every year so it’s nothing new. We need to build our experience level by playing solid football early on,” Curtis added.
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