We usually do 5 takes on the South Lafourche game, but heck, I have a 5 hour ride home from Monroe and I watched a lot of football tonight, so let’s give it a twirl doing something different.
Round 1 of the playoffs is done and let’s give our 5 takes on the entire opening round.
5 TAKES AS LOCAL TEAMS MOVE AROUND THE PLAYOFF SCENE
TAKE ONE: Time management matters – Natchitoches Central’s coaching staff won’t sleep tonight. They had the ball deep in Terrebonne territory and it looked like Deja vu again for Terrebonne and a game that would end in a late-game, last-second field goal. Nope. They got tackled in bounds, ran out of time, went to OT and lost. The Tigers survived and live to play another day. Don’t scoff at the score. Don’t scoff at the result. Division I Non-Select is a bear. The name of the game is to win, survive and advance.
TAKE TWO: What in the world was West Monroe doing? – West Monroe was up 35-7 over South Lafourche at halftime and they got the first possession of the third quarter. Upstairs, we were thinking touchdown, stop, touchdown, running time. Nope. The Rebels took out their offensive starters the entire third quarter and let the Tarpons cut the deficit to 35-21. They put them back in and won 49-21. But bro, what are you doing? That’s cutting it a little close.
TAKE THREE: A tough night for Thibodaux – Thibodaux had an amazing season. Coach Lowell Narcisse will be on a very, very short list of coaches to win our local Coach of the Year Award when we do that later this fall. But tonight just wasn’t their night. Mandeville stretched the field on them, took advantage of matchups and put a bunch of points on the board. Tough ending, but they’ll be back.
TAKE FOUR: Having a bye matters – Having a bye is a blessing. Other teams were scattered across the state tonight. E.D. White, Vandebilt, CCA and St. James were at home with no risk of having their second round hopes taken from them. That bye helps. That bye matters.
TAKE FIVE: Colleges have lost their way – I am tired of sugar coating it. I am tired of playing nice. I am tired of blaming NIL. I am tired of blaming the portal. Colleges have lost their way. Terrance Pitre and Josh Mack have rewritten the South Lafourche record books. Tonight, Pitre had 200+ yards receiving against West Monroe, which is practically a college. The kids have minimal – if any – offers. There’s a few like them at every local school. There’s too many Louisiana based schools below .500 this fall to justify not taking a look at your recruiting boards and doing better. Straight up.
TAKE SIX: Beware of Lutcher – Lutcher was down early this year. They are now woefully underseeded now. They blew out the back-half of their schedule and their Week 1 opponent. They are capable of making a run, folks.
TAKE SEVEN: Dome matchups in Round 2 – There are so many good matchups in Round 2. Goodness. We have some iron facing iron around the state. It will be an amazing week and some heavy hitters will have to go down.
TAKE EIGHT: Relax, ya’ll – We had two live games tonight. One was filmed by a teenager. The other was filmed by someone who left her main job and went to the doctor today to get a shot so she could film her game. The bitching in the comments about the stream quality are tired. I watched BOTH games from Monroe and neither skipped. BOTH. Without issue. Maybe YOU are having a phone and connectivity issue. If it’s that easy, go film and do it better. You won’t. If it’s that dire, pay the $10 and go to the game. Or go find someone else’s live stream. Oh yeah, there’s not another one. That’s right.
TAKE NINE: Yes, we will have games next week – With all of that having been said, we already are confirmed for Round 2 action. Cue the horns and bells. Hint hint.