Marquee match-up

The 2020 high school football season could not have opened up with a better key marquee game in Evangeline Parish than the one that will take place tomorrow night in Basile.
The two team that will meet on the field of play, the Sacred Heart Trojans and the Basile Bearcats, are both poised for tremendous seasons and have played some of the most physical games against each other over the past few years.
Since 2017, the Trojans and the Bearcats have battled in early season contests, with Sacred Heart taking two of the three games played in that time span. According to both coaches, this year’s encounter will be just should prove to be just as grinding as the past three seasons.
“I expect this to be a drag out fight the entire game,” stated Sacred Heart head coach Josh Harper. “As always, Basile is very physical. Coach (Kevin) Bertrand and his staff do a tremendous job year in and year out getting their team mentally and physically ready to play. It is going to be a tough draw, especially because its the first game of the season.”
“Sacred Heart is just a hard-nosed group of players,” said Bertrand. “Even though they have gone to the spread offense this season, they may as well be a Power-I football team the way they run the ball. This is going to be one of those four quarter battles.”
Both teams are coming off of successful scrimmages that allowed the coaching staffs to solidify the depth chart.
According to Harper, whose team scrimmaged Bunkie this past Friday, the Trojans did about what was expected at this point in the season.
“For the most part, I think we executed the game plan we went into the scrimmage with,” Harper said. “There are definitely some things that we need to clean up like tackling and route running. But, as a whole I thought we were pretty solid and pretty sound.’
Sacred Heart returns a huge number of players on both sides of the ball. The only difference this season is the offensive scheme that will be implemented by the Trojan coaching staff.
Sacred Heart will not totally forgo the single wing system that was the staple of their offense the past few years, but they will be more of a spread offense that will still focus on the run, while taking advantage of RPO situations.
Guiding the way for Sacred Heart in their new offensive package will be either Gabe Fontenot or Ethan Karonika. Both players got time behind the center last season and both have the ability to escape the pocket and create if necessary.
Retuning to the carry the load in the running game will be Alex McElwee. The senior ball carrier will be a major factor in the game tomorrow night.
“With the players we have up front on offense, I really believe that we can be a run heavy team,” stated Harper. “The biggest key for us tomorrow night will be our ability to make out pre-snap reads and slowing the game down in our minds so that we are making the right choices,”
“Defensively, our linebackers are going to have to do a hell of a job reading their keys in order to get to the ball.,” Harper continued. “This game will get you prepared for the battles that lie ahead.”
For Basile, having four of their five offensive lineman back this season is going to be big for a team that truly likes to pound the ball with the running game. According to Bertrand, the offense produced the way he had hoped in their scrimmage against Merryville this past Friday.
“Against Merryville, we moved the ball very well,” commented Bertrand. “The offensive line did a tremendous job of opening up holes and Ethan Bazinet ran the ball very effectively. Merryville, gave us a different look than they had last year, but our experience up front allowed us to adjust and make the running game work.”
On the defensive side of the ball, Bertrand complemented his defensive line for coming to play against the Panthers.
“It’s funny we always preach to our defensive line to get their hands on the offensive lineman and allow our linebacking corps to get the ball carrier,” said Bertrand. “Friday, I do not know if I have seen our defensive line do that job as well as they did against Merryville, and this is my seventh year here.”
On problem that will need to be corrected before the Bearcats do battle with the Trojans falls on the defensive side of the ball. Against Merryville, Basile was a slow starter in trying to control the Panther offense.
“At the beginning of the scrimmage we had a problem with our alignment that allow Merryville to be successful on offense,” stated Bertrand. “After the first series, we adjusted to their alignment and settled down. We will not be able to have that problem against Sacred Heart. If we do it could be a long night.”