Basile hits road to Merryville trying to overcome opening district game loss

At the halfway point of the season, the Basile Bearcats find themselves in somewhat similar territory as compared to this time last year.
Right now, the Bearcats are 2-2 on the season and 0-1 after their first district loss to the St. Ed’s Blue Jays this past Friday. In 2017, Basile was 1-3 and 0-1 at this same juncture.
But, Basile is hoping that, like last year, they can make a move and finish out the rest of the 2018 campaign undefeated and in perfect position come playoff time.
But, first the Bearcats must make the long trek to the west to Merryville tomorrow night to tangle with the Panthers, a team they beat handily last year, 30-14. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
“We just did not play well enough to get the job done against St. Ed’s last week,” stated Basile head coach Kevin Bertrand. “Offensively we sputtered all night long. We turned the ball over twice and did not get the passing game going the entire night. Grant it, we have a couple of key players that are not one hundred percent right now, and that hurts. But, we can’t make excuses, we have to be able to move the ball and sustain drives.”
In their game with the Blue Jays, the Bearcats were only able to gather 138 yards of total offense. The vaunted ground game of Basile rushed for a not so Bearcat like 101 yards, while the passing was almost null and void, adding only 37 yards.
“I am hoping that we are able to throw the ball better tomorrow night,” said Bertrand. “I think Jaylen (Thomas) and Isaiah (Ceasar) are getting close to being fully ready to go. Those two guys make a big difference for us on offense. They help take the pressure off of our other players to have to make plays.”
Basile’s opponent this week is not a team to be taken lightly, according to Bertrand. Despite their 0-4 start, the Panthers have averaged 18.3 points per game. And, Merryville has played a pretty tough schedule, including Rosepine, St. John, and Oberlin.
“This is a team that you cannot sleep on,” commented Bertrand. “They are one of those teams that if you do not take them seriously, they can slip up on you and take you down. We are going to have to come into the game with our eyes wide open and execute.”
Defensively, the Bearcats have played outstanding so far this season. Taking away the first game against Iota, Basile has only allowed only 20 points in the last three games.
“We have been able to play some sound defense this year,” commented Bertrand. “If you look at last week, we gave up 250 rush yards, but 50 of those came on one play. Our defense will need to continue to play well in order to give our offense more chances to get things going.”