Out of an abundance of caution and in coordination with local law enforcement agencies, we have made the difficult decision to cancel tonight’s homecoming game at Peabody Magnet High School and all homecoming festivities near the stadium this weekend.

We understand this is disappointing news, especially given the excitement surrounding this special event. We will be in contact with the LHSAA to reschedule the game, and we will communicate the new date and time as soon as arrangements are finalized.

Thank you for your understanding as we prioritize the safety and well-being of our entire school community.

Rapides Parish School Board

Somehow the duffers’ talk shifted from the Ryder Cup to Saturday’s LSU-Ole Miss football game, eventually settling on who’s the best quarterback in each school’s history.

The LSU view was Joe Burrow, with Bert Jones in the running.

Agreement was unanimous on Ole Miss – Archie Manning. No discussion.

Spoiler that I am, couldn’t resist asking- what about Jake Gibbs?

These were by no means young men though perhaps not quite my age yet. I was, and still am, shocked by the blank looks.

Who? Never heard of him? You sure he was Ole Miss? Was he old school, nothing personal?

So I tried best my memory would allow:

Three years at helm, twice national champions; member College Football Hall of Fame; two-sport All-American (also baseball).

Chose baseball career over pro football; 10 years or so catcher with New York Yankees; then longtime baseball coach at Mississippi.

Still not a hint of recollection among my table mates. Saw little point in mentioning Charlie Conerly on Rebels’ side or Y.A. Tittle on Tigers’.

Everyone smiled at one last reference:

“Gibbs to punt; Cannon to receive.” October 31, 1959.

The Mayor of Ball issued a statement yesterday regarding the blue recycling bin located at Town Hall. Mayor Wilking announced that the Town of Ball will discontinue its recycling program. This discontinuation is a a result of repeated misuse and contamination of the recycling bins with items that cannot be recycled—such as milk jugs mixed with clear plastic bottles, and household garbage found in the bins designated for recyclables—even after the bin was clearly marked. Town employees spent many hours manually sorting and removing these unrecyclable items.

Ball also issued a reminder that, effective Oct. 1, it will no longer be accepting cash for payments. Additionally, the Town of Ball will no longer accept Water Works District #3 payments. Payments to the Town of Ball may be made via check, money order, or credit card. Auto-draft forms are available at Town Hall.

By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports

President Trump and Sam Burns, figuratively speaking, will probably arrive at the 45^th Ryder Cup competition about the same time today.

The president is expected at Bethpage Black on Long Island outside of New York City in time to watch the afternoon four-ball session between four teams from the USA and Europe.

Burns, the former LSU All-American, will not play in the opening early-morning session of foursomes (alternate shot), but most expect him to be announced late morning as part of an American duo teeing it up in the second round of the day.

The 29-year-old Shreveport native and Choudrant resident, who plays out of Squire Creek Country Club, was left off the starting lineup for morning foursome (alternate shot) action by USA captain Keegan Bradley when this morning’s four matches were unveiled Thursday afternoon. Bradley said the lineup was set a while ago and was no secret among his players, and that pairings for ensuing rounds were already established. Those might be adjusted, but Bradley said he wants to proceed “according to plan.”

Burns and the other players were not available to media after the mid-afternoon pairings announcement. But earlier Thursday, he was bursting with pride about President Trump’s visit today and a massive charitable gift he will direct back home.

“It’s a huge honor to have our president come to this event, support our team,” said Burns. “This is about representing the United States of America, and who better to represent that than our president. I think we are all excited.”

He was also excited discussing about how he will collect a half-million dollars this weekend earmarked for the folks back home. All 12 USA team members will get $500,000 to allocate as they choose to charitable causes, a stipend increased by $300,000 since the 2023 Ryder Cup.

“I’m extremely grateful the PGA of America is doing this. I live in a small town in Louisiana and that amount of money in that community for those charities is going to go a long ways,” said Burns in his media session Thursday morning. “It’s going to have a huge impact on our community and I’m just extremely grateful.

“To steward that money in our own communities at home – that’s a great thing,” he said.

But his main focus is doing what he’s done in two President’s Cup competitions as a pro, and two other international matches in his days at Shreveport’s Calvary Baptist Academy (2014 Junior Ryder Cup) and at LSU (2017 Arnold Palmer Cup). Burns is in it to win it for America.

That did not happen in his first Ryder Cup appearance in 2023 at Rome. Burns went 1-2 over the weekend in Italy. His victory, when paired with Collin Morikawa in four-ball play Saturday afternoon, rekindled American optimism. They rolled 4&3 over Viktor Hovlad and Ludvig Aberg, who had routed two other USA duos, notably the power tandem of Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka.

That sparked a 3-1 afternoon recovery but it was only a temporary surge for the Americans, who were dominated in singles play Sunday and got whipped 16 ½ – 11 ½. That outcome is on the minds of Bradley and his team, determined to prevail on home turf against a European roster that has all but one player and captain Luke Donald back from 2023.

“Losing is never fun. It doesn’t matter what sport or what game, whatever it is you know losing sucks,” said Burns. “We want to use those memories as fuel this week. Everyone that was on that team or watched vividly remembers what that feels like. You don’t want that feeling again.”

Today’s play will be carried on USA Network. NBC picks up coverage Saturday starting at 6 a.m. CT for two more rounds of foursome and four-ball action, and Sunday’s 12 singles matches slated to begin at 11 a.m.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

By LORI LYONS, Journal Sports

In the game of football, it’s not just all about winning. Coaches know that, sometimes, it’s about how your team reacts to winning.

Alexandria Senior High, Holy Savior Menard, Buckeye, Northwood-Lena and Tioga all are coming off big wins. For Northwood, it was the first win of the season. Alexandria had to hold off a late rally to win at Destrehan. Menard and Buckeye escaped with one-point wins. Tioga got a statement win.

But there’s no time for resting on laurels as we reach Week 4 of the 10-game regular season.

For the first time since 2014, Buckeye is 3-0 following Friday night’s come-from-behind 27-26 win over South Beauregard. Preston Willis ran for 297 yards and two touchdowns, kicking the decisive extra point following his game-tying run with 1:47 remaining in the game.

This week the Panthers will host the Avoyelles Mustangs (0-3) for their homecoming celebration. Last year Avoyelles beat Buckeye 46-0.

“Our rallying cry this week is ‘remember last year,’” Buckeye coach Aaron York said. “We were 2-1 going into it and had just lost to South Beauregard. Mentally we went there and didn’t play very well. This year our focus is on one game at a time.”

After scoring a crushing 56-14 win at Pineville last week, Tioga (3-1 traveled to Monroe on Thursday where the Indias fought for a 54-30 victory over a Richwood Rams club that would not fade away.

This week Pineville (2-1) hosts the Battle of The Villes, hosting Leesville (1-2). The Rebels were in a tight game with Tioga before giving up 42 unanswered points. Kelmarion Phillips scored on a 66-yard run and a 73-yard run for Pineville, which opened with a solid win in Week 1 at New Iberia.

After dominating victories against West Feliciana (54-7) and Union Parish (57-0), Alexandria escaped south Louisiana last week with a 27-26 victory over traditional powerhouse Destrehan, thanks to some big plays and a running game that had to step up.

Running back Kason Williams ran for 116 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries, plus he caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Karsen Sellers. Sellers was 5 of 10 for 79 yards, 50 of which came on one play.

This week the Trojans (3-0, ranked sixth in Class 5A) welcome another traditional powerhouse, Opelousas, for homecoming. The Tigers, in their first year under former Peabody coach and LSU linebacker Harry Coleman as coach, are 0-2 following a lopsided loss to Teurlings Catholic (48-12) in Week 1 and a closer game against Lake Charles College Prep (41-34) in Week 3. They did not play in Week 2.

Menard may have spent a little time polishing the Bishop’s Bowl Trophy it took from St. Mary’s for the first time after last week’s 7-6 win – but not too much. The Class 2A Eagles (2-1) travel to Class 3A Abbeville (0-3), a team they defeated by just one point last season.

Menard will rely on senior quarterback Jake Vaughan, who passed for 122 yards last week and connected with senior receiver Matthew Hicks for the lone touchdown of the game. Hicks also made an interception in the second half. The Eagles rushed for only 86 yards in what turned out to be a defensive battle that coach David Perkins said was old school.

“It was almost like from my era in the ‘70s,” he said.

Senior Jacob Jeanise had seven tackles and two assists; junior Wyatt Heyward had five tackles and four assists and junior Jack Simpson had two tackles and seven assists.

Northwood notched its first win of the season last week, knocking off Pickering 14-6 for homecoming. This week the Gators will travel north to Sibley and visit Lakeside (2-1), whose running back, Kentravion Miller, averages 9.9 yards per carry.

Peabody had a rough road trip to Fontainebleau last week, leaving with a 30-6 loss after giving up 438 rushing yards. This week the Warhorses host Franklin (1-2), which is coming off a big 56-22 win over Berwick.

After forfeiting its Week 3 game, Bolton Academy returned to the field Thursday night, traveling to LaGrange, which handed the Bears a 60-0 loss.

Contact Lori at sportslyons@gmail.com

GOODWELL, Okla. – Louisiana Christian knows how Oklahoma Panhandle State feels, and vice versa.

Saturday evening, one team will get some relief when they collide in a Sooner Athletic Conference football game that kicks off at 6 at Anchor D Stadium.

The Wildcats (2-2 overall, 2-0 in the SAC) and the Aggies (1-2, 0-1 SAC) both absorbed big defeats at the hands of ranked opponents last weekend.

LCU was blasted 52-17 by the NAIA’s No. 8 team, Hardin-Simmons, in Abilene, Texas. OPSU was drubbed 56-10 by No. 18 Ottawa (Arizona) in a conference game.

The Wildcats will count on a couple of former ASH Trojans offensively. Datlan Cunningham is the leading ground gainer for LCU with 341 yards and three touchdowns. EJ Scott tops the pass catchers with 23 receptions for 367 yards.

Quarterback Bryce Perkins has thrown for 899 yards and four scores, three to Omarius Davis, who has 17 receptions for 292 yards.

Top defenders for LCU are Kylon Allen (31 tackles, 2 interceptions, 3 pass breakups) and Brandon Johnson (22 tackles, 1 interception, 3 pass breakups).

Levi Hilborn has made six of seven field goal tries for the Wildcats.

Opening the 2025-2026 St. James Episcopal Church Concert Series, organ virtuoso Dorothy Papadakos returns to bring musical life to a screening of the very first vampire movie, the 1922 German silent film, Nosferatu, tonight at 7pm. 

Improvising the soundtrack in real time with the film, Dorothy will make full use of the St. James pipe organ.

Celebration of the first 75 years of Pineville’s Martin Library brings to mind one of my newspaper life’s biggest surprises.

The library began with an endowment by her children to honor Mildred Martin, as in Roy O Martin.

Mildred “Virginia” Martin Howard was one of the children and the surprise in this look back.

When the receptionist rang to say Mrs. Martin was at The Town Talk front desk to see me it meant one of three things.

She thought we were guilty, again, of butchering some part of the King’s English, a music project needed deserved recognition, or something new was happening at the library and deserved our attention.

Mrs. Howard was culture personified, manners ingrained and as persuasive as a Philadelphia lawyer. (And it didn’t hurt she had the, in these parts, legendary family name.)

Yet her causes carried their own weight, though we often disagreed on her grammar challenges.

She felt libraries held the nation’s future, challenging young minds to read and learn life beyond their neighborhoods, and worried reading was taking a backseat in kids’ lives.

Actually she was persuasive enough to get me involved with a gang of 5th graders in the Reading Is Fundamental program in Rapides schools. (Gosh, those kids are now in their 60s).

But Mrs. Howard was most widely known for her music skills, as a teacher, at the keys, or directing choirs.

Compositions on the classical and religious scores were her normal fare.

And so we come to a night in the 1970’s, an after-party celebrating the final rehearsal of that year’s Press Club Gridiron Show. The annual sold-out event spoofing all manner of public figures and fiascos raised scholarship funds for area students planning to study journalism and communications.

The party was at Dooley and Tiz Nunnally’s Cherokee Village place. Tiz was the Gridiron pianist so many years that she was eventually named an honorary Press Club member.

After a periodic of finger food and banter back and forth someone of course urged Tiz to hit the 88 so we all could get more much-needed singing practice.

She approached the piano and from another room came Virginia Howard, a substitution beyond expectation.
In her perfectly tailored outfit she sat and we prepared for a downer.

Then she brought forth Scott Joplin, whose ragtime was enjoying new popularity thanks to a fairly recent Newman-Redford movie “The Sting.” (If you don’t know the music, go to YouTube; too bad the Gridiron productions didn’t end up there.)

Flabbergasted describes her audience. Then out came Ham and Hambone, more widely known as Bill Carter, Town Talk sports editor, and Bill Lynch, KALB TV executive and Gridiron director, with a soft shoe routine.

The prearranged activity closed with Mrs. Howard reminding us that music and a good laugh benefit everyone.

Perhaps as true today as then.

A footnote: The Virginia M. Howard Foundation since 2013 has awarded grants totaling about $500,000 annually to programs in Central Louisiana, including the Alexandria Museum of Art and Hope House, and other areas.

It’s official – on Tuesday, the City of Pineville broke ground on its Huffman Creek Pump Station. 

There was a fantastic turnout for the groundbreaking ceremony. Pineville thanked all of the community members, elected officials, and project partners who came out to celebrate this pivotal moment with them.

The groundbreaking marks the official start of this $11.8 million investment in the future of Pineville. This is a major step forward in protecting homes and businesses in Pineville, and the City couldn’t have kicked it off in a better way. Stay tuned for updates as they bring this project to life.