By: RHETT MANUEL
Sports Editor
VILLE PLATTE – The Ville Platte Bulldogs have been one of the most optimistic and resilient teams in all of Louisiana in 2022.
They’ve gotten kicked around a bit, found some success at other points and have always come back for more.
Head coach Roy Serie’s hope has sprung eternal all season long. When this team was down, it continued to battle.
It’s with that mindset that Ville Platte heads into yet another slugfest tomorrow night, welcoming in Northwest in District 4-3A play with an outside shot at the playoffs hanging in the balance.
How the Bulldogs have stayed in the fight is pretty simple to Serie.
“I guess you look at the kids and regardless of last year and this year, they keep showing up,” he said. “We face adversity, but we fight the whole time.”
It’s been a night-and-day transformation as the year has gone on for the Bulldogs. Even in last week’s 58-20 loss to Church Point, Ville Platte punched above its weight and proved itself capable of playing against good teams.
“They’re starting to learn how to watch themselves and see the missed opportunities,” Serie said. “We’re steady finding guys who can come into this game. It’s about the coaches and players. We continue to believe that we can show improvement.”
Ville Platte took a chance when it grew into the game against Church Point last week.
“We figured we would go with base stuff and be solid and not show much against them,” Serie said. “But, we decided to go with what we’ve been doing in-game. We put some stuff together and we saw we were playing some ball with those guys. Our confidence grew, and we continued to fight and we felt good about ourselves.”
It’s arguably the most important game Ville Platte played all year, and it’s a trend they hope to continue.
“The kids executed the plan last week,” Serie said. “It’s good momentum for this week. We scored on a great team. We led for a bit there. We won some one-on-one battles.
“Any given week, teams come to play,” he added. “It lets you know that any given week, if you execute, you can come out on top if you do it well enough.”
Execution will be paramount against a Northwest team that features a strong coaching staff.
“It’s a veteran-coached team,” Serie said. “You know they’ll be well-prepared. They have good tradition and should be at full strength.”
With each team still holding playoff dreams, it won’t be hard for the Bulldogs to get up for this game.
“These teams always play each other hard,” Serie said. “They know what’s at stake, and we do too. There’s a knock at the door and we need to see if we’re ready to open it.
“I don’t think they’ll overlook us and we don’t overlook them either. We’ll play the game and see where it falls.”
June 20, 2026
