Basile happy to be back in action after two week lay-off

The Basile Bearcats will hit the field of play for the first time in three weeks, as they travel to Gueydan to take on the Bears in a District 4-1A contest.
After a very disappointing performance against Sacred Heart in week one, Basile (1-2, 0-1) looked to get back on track. Following a lost game due to Hurricane Laura, the Bearcats looked like they had righted the ship, despite losing their next contest to Grand Lake in week three.
Then Basile put together a tremendous second half against the Port Barre Red Devils in a 21-12 win, proving once again they were ready to perform the way Bearcat teams are supposed to.
Unfortunately for Basile, the COVID-19 crisis hit a little too close to home, as one of the players tested positive for the virus. And, just like a number of teams across the state, the Bearcats were forced to shut down play for two weeks.
“We have been talking about this with the players since the beginning of the season,” stated Basile head coach Kevin Bertrand. “Now they know that they have to truly take it one game at a time because we just don’t know what the next week holds for us.”
After fulfilling their coronavirus protocol, Basile is back and ready to get back to proving themselves once again.
“Just getting back into some type of routine is going to be a big hurdle for us this coming week,” said Bertrand. “We have had a lot of starting and stopping this year what with the hurricane and everything else that has gone on. It is going to take this week to try and find that rhythm again.”
Before their hiatus this past two weeks, Basile had re-invented themselves offensively. In their initial match-up of the season with Sacred Heart, the Bearcats did not look good running or throwing the ball.
However, Bertrand and his staff went back to the drawing board and simplified things enough for Basile to take Grand Lake down to the wire. That make over transformed itself into an offense that produced close to 300 yards in their only win of the season.
“Before this happened, I really thought that we were starting to find ourselves offensively,” commented Bertrand. “Offense is about timing and cohesiveness on the line of scrimmage. When you haven’t played for two weeks, those things sometimes get lost. Those things are a big focus for us this week at practice and hopefully it comes back fast.”
Gueydan comes into the game with an overall record of 0-5. The Bears have only scored 22 points in those five games, however Bertrand knows that no team can be taken lightly.
“Gueydan is a very young team, but they are not afraid to put the ball in the air and they have some guys that can make some plays,” said Bertrand. “They are going to give us a ton of different formations. With us coming off of the lay-off we are going to have to really focus in on what they are doing.”