By: RHETT MANUEL
Sports Editor
MAMOU – There are two things in football that test teams’ mettle above all others in the game – tough-luck losses and blowout losses.
Teams refuse to be defined by those situations. Every coach worth their salt will tell you that it’s the response after either type of loss that proves who you really are as a team.
It’s the exact circumstances that Pine Prairie and Mamou are coming off of last week and will play each other tonight in hopes of rebounding from each of their situations.
Pine Prairie was mere seconds away from the first win of the Joe Heintz Era last week before falling 36-33 to the Northwest Raiders in the final seconds.
It wasn’t a game without bright spots for the Panthers. The Panthers’ offense looked more dangerous than it has all year, led by senior quarterback Branson Fontenot’s five touchdown pass performance while throwing for nearly 400 yards.
The defense gave Northwest all it could handle until the very end as well.
It’s a team that’s still playing hard despite being down on its luck, and it isn’t lost on Mamou head coach Dwight Collins.
“They’re playing pretty well,” Collins said. Their record doesn’t identify what I see on film. They’re playing hard offensively and defensively. They’ll come out and play four quarters of football.”
Mamou ran into a buzzsaw in Iota last week. Iota, currently one of the hottest teams in the state after winning its last six games, shut out Mamou by a 40-0 margin.
It got some momentum with a score towards the end of the half and didn’t look back against Mamou.
The Green Demons are back grinding after that misfortune.
“We’re just trying to clean up things that caused us problems last week,” Collins said. “(Iota) scored at half last week. The game was closer than the score indicated.
“We’re trying to fix some of those issues we had from a scheme standpoint.”
Making the needed adjustments is easier when you’ve got a group who bounces back well.
“The kids have been positive all season,” Collins said. “That’s a good thing about this group, they’ve always come back the following week ready to work.”
June 20, 2026
