By BRET H. MCCORMICK
Seven Rapides Parish football teams will have their final dress rehearsal Friday night before the start of the regular season.
Six of the seven teams will play a jamboree against an in-parish opponent. District 2-5A rivals Pineville and Alexandria Senior High will meet at Pineville beginning at 5:30 p.m. Buckeye will play host to Menard beginning at 6 p.m. Meanwhile, Peabody will play at Bolton beginning at 7 p.m.
Tioga is the only Rapides Parish school playing a team from outside of the parish as the Indians welcome Grant, Leesville and Westgate to The Reservation.
Pineville and ASH will play junior-varsity action followed by freshmen with the varsity teams concluding the action with two 15-minute halves.
“It’s a full dress rehearsal,” ASH coach Thomas Bachman said.
Bachman is hopeful the Trojans can play faster than they did in their scrimmage against Acadiana last week. They will work on getting their different personnel packages on and off the field quicker and make sure everyone is in full game conditioning for Week 1.
“That’s what I’m looking forward to – the flow of the game, the clock becoming important, managing those situations, the kids becoming aware of those situations,” Bachman said.
Buckeye and Menard will begin their jamboree with junior high action followed by junior varsity and then the varsity squads facing off in two 15-minute halves.
Buckeye coach Ben McLaughlin said the jamboree gives coaches and players their “first full dry run” of playing a meaningful game. He said the Panthers have approached this week “as a Week Zero” so they are prepared for the season opener next week.
“Menard’s a good opponent,” McLaughlin said. “They have a lot of size. They’re really going to prepare us. I’m looking forward to seeing our kids go out and come out of there better.”
Bolton and Peabody will duke it out in varsity-only competition featuring two 15-minute halves.
Peabody coach Harry Coleman said the Warhorses will show up Friday night and give everything they have. They want to compete against the Bears, play hard, show sportsmanship and ultimately “give ‘em our best shot.”
“Nobody’s perfect,” Coleman said, “but we’re gonna try to play as perfect as we can.”
Tioga will face off against Westgate in the second matchup of the Indians’ jamboree after Grant and Leesville kick things off at 7 p.m. The teams will face off in two 12-minute halves.
Tioga coach Kevin Cook said the Indians are coming off a scrimmage against a quality opponent in Opelousas last week and face another “outstanding opponent” this week in Westgate.
Although Cook looks at scrimmages and jamborees as glorified practices, he wants to see his team compete hard so that the Indians are ready for the season opener next Thursday night against Bolton.
“You can’t ease into the football season,” Cook said. “We’ve got the gloves on. We need to get in the middle of the ring and go toe to toe.”
Northwood-Lena is the only parish team that will not participate in a jamboree this week. After losing six players to injury prior to the start of the regular season last year, Northwood coach Tommy Moore said he took a chance of avoiding the jamboree in hopes of keeping his team healthy.
The Gators will open the season with a home game against Ringgold next Friday night.