Mandeville hosts the Class 2A state runner up John Curtis Patriots tomorrow at Lakeshore High School.

MHS, which finished 7-4 last year, had to move their season opener to Thursday due to their field at Sidney Theriot Stadium being worked on.

Mandeville blanked Holy Cross 23-0 in the Covington Jamboree, while Curtis shut down the Covington Lions 14-0 at the same site so the two clubs didn’t have to travel at all to scout each other in preparation for tomorrow’s season opener.

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John Curtis won last year’s contest 35-7.

MHS fifth-year head coach Guy LeCompte (32-14) talked about preparing to face the Patriots.

“There is no doubt you have to be prepared going against a quality, proven opponent like Curtis. They are so good at what they do. They force people to make mistakes and they don’t make many themselves. Our goal is to give ourselves a chance against a top notch opponent by not making the mistakes and mental errors,” LeCompte said.

“We are a good football team, but we want to be a great football team. The biggest obstacle of becoming great is being good and settling for that. We want to take that next step and that is why we keep teams like John Curtis on our schedule. Playing those caliber teams makes the coaches and players better,” LeCompte added.

“We want to be better than good. We want to be at that level where we are able to compete for a championship year in and year out. Mental mistakes don’t give you a chance to become great. The great teams force the other teams into making mistakes because they don’t make any themselves,” LeCompte said.

MHS junior quarterback Matt Bergeron helped engineer the Skippers to last week’s jamboree victory going 10-of-15 for 124 yards including a one-yard TD pass to Sean Zemke. Back up sophomore QB Nick Morgan completed his only pass for four yards. Zemke topped the Skippers’ receivers with four catches for 42 yards, while senior Elijah Levee´ grabbed three receptions for 28 yards. Westley LaBorde, Colby Lacombe, Xavier Marcus and Marc Zemke had one catch each.

Junior Charles Jones carried the load on the ground rushing for 81 yards on three carries including a 75-yard scamper on the first possession of the second half to put the Skippers up 17-0. Senior defensive back Jonathan Baham picked off a pass and returned it 30 yards for the Skippers’ final score. Sophomore place kicker Kyle Pellegrini was true on a 32-yard field goal to give the Skippers an early 3-0 advantage. He also made 2-of-3 extra points. Pellegrini also handled the Skippers’ punting duties, averaging 41 yards on three punts. Daniel DeMelo returned three punts for 40 yards averaging 13.3 yards per return.

The Skippers rushed the ball 11 times for 69 yards.

Coach LeCompte said he saw a lot of good things come out of the jamboree victory.

“We placed a big emphasis on special teams. We had a couple little areas we need to correct and that is what is good about a jamboree, which allows you to identify those things. We had someone run on the field late on a punt play and that kind of stuff drives me crazy. We kicked a decent field goal, but we missed an extra point,” LeCompte said.

Skippers’ senior center Christian Dragna (6-2, 290) talked about the team having a good game plan going against Holy Cross.

“We worked hard all week heading into the jamboree and we were well prepared. We made some mistakes, but overall the offense got the job done and our defense stepped up,” Dragna said.

LeCompte said it was a great defensive performance keyed by Baham’s interception return for a score.

“He made a nice break on the ball. We defended the pass really well and that’s what Holy Cross does. We reaped a lot of benefit from all of the 7-on-7 we played during the summer. I think that was a direct result from that,” LeCompte said.

In addition to Baham’s interception, sophomore Austin Cherry, another NCS transfer, picked off a pass to aid the Skippers’ secondary.

Holy Cross completed 11-of-22 passes for just 87 yards, while rushing the ball 19 times for 87 yards in the jamboree.

Junior linebacker Timmy Broussard, who transferred from Northlake Christian School, topped the Skippers’ defense with four individual tackles. He also registered the team’s lone sack and forced a fumble. Junior linebacker Sam McGivern came up with three solo stops and five assists. He also defended a pass. Brenden Dugas, Austin Roy and Preston Winget each recorded three individual tackles with two assists each.

John Curtis, which went 13-1 last year falling to Evangel 18-13 in the championship contest.

Curtis senior running back Torrey Pierce (5-9, 185) tallied both Patriots’ TDs in the Covington Jamboree. Pierce scored on runs of 65 and 11 yards to help spur the Patriots to victory. Junior kicker Brandon Naumann kicked both extra points.

Senior QB Brandon Bourgeois (6-0, 190) is the Patriots’ starter.

Coach J.T. Curtis said his club looks forward to playing very good teams early in the season.

“That will challenge you on offense and defense. It helps you identify areas of concern to get prepared for district play. Mandeville, Salmen and Covington will expose weaknesses because they are quality programs,” coach Curtis said.

“There are no real secrets when you face Mandeville because you know they are going to throw the ball. Their quarterback (Matt Bergeron), who did a nice job finding their two inside receivers. I was impressed with his arm and his feet,” Curtis said.

Coach Curtis said senior free safety Raydell Mason (6-1, 200) played well in the Patriot’s secondary and he was also pleased with the performance of senior linebacker (6-0, 228) rushing the passer.

“Those two returning senior starters will have to provide consistent play for us,” Curtis added.