Pine Prairie battles Church Point on the road

CHURCH POINT -- A tough task awaits the Pine Prairie Panthers tomorrow night, as they travel to battle the perennial playoff contender Church Point Bears in the first district game of the year for both teams.
This will be the fourth game on the road in a row for the Panthers. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
Pine Prairie, fresh off of their first win of the season after taking down the Beau Chene Gators 34-7 last week, are hungry for an upset, but must first find a way to stop a potent Bear offense that is averaging 38.6 points per game.
“These guys are really good on offense,” stated Pine Prairie head coach Yves Prince. “Their backs are so talented, especially their fullback Rodney Dupuis. He is a man and so hard to bring down. But, he is not the only one they have that can go.”
“The biggest thing about them is that they are so big up front and have been running the Wing-T for so long, it is second nature to them,” Prince continued. “It will be tough for us defensively, there is no doubt about it.”
Defensively, Church Point has held some of the better offenses around the area in check, giving up an average of 20 points per game, with most of those points coming when the Bears have already locked up the game.
“They are very disciplined on defense,” said Prince. “It will be tough going for us if we cannot throw the ball with effectiveness. I think their secondary is the weaker link on that side of the ball. We have to be efficient in the passing game to keep them off balance.”
Even though Prince and the Panthers are hoping to find some type of passing attack, they still have the running game that is the envy of most teams around the area. And, the reason for that is the ability of running back JJ Sims. The senior blasted his way for over 200 yards again this past week and continues to find space to run.
“Our offensive line has done a tremendous job this season finding JJ holes,” commented Prince. “When those holes open, JJ just takes advantage of them. Hopefully, we can continue finding him space to operate.”