Basile travels to Merryville with district title still in their sight

Resiliency and the ability to adapt have been major themes for the Basile Bearcats this season.
After starting the season 1-2, Basile has won three of its last four games and now sit at 4-3 on the year and 3-1 in district play. The Bearcats will look to continue that winning trend when they travel to Merryville to take on the Panthers tonight.
Game time is set for 7 p.m.
“We have had to make some adjustments in our scheme offensively, but the players have really adapted and are starting to feel comfortable on that side of the ball,” stated Basile head coach Kevin Bertrand. “We had some key injuries at the start of the season and are now as healthy as we have been all year long. It has truly been a tribute to the resiliency of our players how we have overcome the adversity we have faced this season.”
Last week Basile left nothing to chance, scoring 20 points in the first half against a hard-nosed East Beauregard team. Those points were enough to allow the Bearcats to hold on for a 20-14 win.
“Last week, we started on fire,” said Bertrand. “It just seemed that they were able to grab some of the momentum in the second half and dictated how the game was going to finish. They had a long drive to start the second half and that seemed to wear us down a little. Honestly, we only had the ball a couple of drives the entire second half. But, we made them earn everything they got.”
Basile is hoping to get off to another fast start tomorrow night against Merryville. The Panthers enter the game with an overall record of 2-5 and a district record of 1-3. Last week, Merryville fell to Gueydan 20-12.
The Panthers do not slack when it comes to offense, averaging 19 points per game. However, Merryville does surrender a lot of points as they give up an average of 27.7 points per game.
The only common opponent for the two teams is Mamou. Merryville lost to the Demons 32-20 in game one, while Basile defeated Mamou 34-28 in week two.
“Merryville is a run heavy team that has two really good running backs,” commented Bertrand. “It is going to be a big challenge for us to try and slow down their running game. The big thing for us is to line up correctly. They use a lot of formations and especially like to overload one side of the ball.”