BEAU CHENE -- Coming off of a hard fought 28-13 emotional loss to the Ville Platte Bulldogs this past Friday that was filled with some controversial calls, the Pine Prairie Panthers hope to rebound in a big way and pick up their first win of the season when they travel to Beau Chene to take on the Gators tomorrow night. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
“There is not too much you can tell the players after a game like we had against Ville Platte,” stated Pine Prairie head coach Yves Prince. “It is just unfortunate that those calls cost us chances at touchdowns. But, I can tell you this, our guys never quit the entire game. This is one of those games that will make you tougher in the long run.”
Pine Prairie finds themselves in some unfamiliar territory at 0-2. The Panthers have not faced that record to start a season since 2015. The good news is that the offense continues to make headway into the 2018 campaign behind the hard running of senior JJ Sims.
Sims gathered another 103 yards against Ville Platte to add to his 185 yards he collected in their first game of the year. Prince knows that his offense is poised to continue doing good things.
“If we stay blocking the way we have up front, we are going to be all right,” said Prince. “We all know what JJ can do. But, I think after this week, we found ourselves a quarterback. Damon (Malveaux) really stepped up this week for us. That will be important for us to become a balanced ball club.”
This week’s opponent, Beau Chene, has not scorched the Earth in their two games played. The 0-2 Gators fell to North Vermilion 47-14 in week one and dropped a mud bath game to Port Barre in a 9-0 loss last week.
“They have a brand new coach this year and have changed up their scheme on offense,” commented Prince. “This season they are running their plays out of the I-formation and then they will get into some spread stuff. They are big up front and change their defensive fronts.”
“Our biggest thing this week is going to be how well we tackle,” continued Prince. “Last week, we did not do a good job of holding on and making the tackles. This past week, we worked extra hard on tackling drills at practice. I think if we can move JJ around and get him the ball outside of the running back spot, we can score some points. I just hope that we can bounce back this week and come away with a win.”
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TRACEY JAGNEAUX Sports Editor