Round two

In the world of LHSAA Division IV football, it is not unusual that a team would face an opponent they have already played this season, especially when said teams occupy one of the toughest, if not the toughest districts in the state.
Such is the case for the Sacred Heart Trojans tomorrow night. As Yogi Berra said, it will be déjà vu all over again for the Trojans as they travel to New Roads to take on the Catholic of Pointe Coupee Hornets. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
This will be round two for the schools, as Catholic defeated Sacred Heart 28-22 earlier this season on an interception return for a touchdown in the waning seconds of a District 5-1A game.
In that contest, the Hornets blasted out to a 22-6 lead before the Trojans could settle down and mount a comeback attempt.
Sacred Heart head coach Josh Harper talked about the advantage and disadvantage of having to play a district opponent in the first round of the playoffs.
“The advantage of playing a team like Catholic twice in one season is that you come into the game knowing that you can compete with them,” stated Harper. “They are coming off of a season in which they went to the state championship. The first time we faced them I think our players were a little wide-eyed and hoping they could compete against a good football team.”
“When the final horn went off, we knew that we had a chance to beat them and I think that gives us some confidence coming into this week,” Harper continued. “The disadvantage is that they know us as much as we know them. We just hope that we can come in with that same kind of confidence we found in the last game. This game is going to be just as much a mental challenge as it will be a physical challenge.”
Since their encounter five weeks ago, the Sacred Heart Trojans have had to battle a two week hiatus from the field of play due to COVID-19 protocols. But, the Trojans are also 2-0 since their game with the Hornets, having beaten Westminster and North Central in the final regular season game this past Friday night.
Against North Central, Sacred Heart stayed very basic on the offensive side of the ball for two reasons. First, the Trojans needed to get back on track after their absence, and, second, they did not want to show too much in the way of tweaks to the system before the playoffs begin.
As far as game planning for the Hornets is concerned Harper believes it is a catch-22.
“We are going to go through the playbook and find the plays that did not work against them the first time,” said Harper. “Same thing defensively. We will look at what worked and what didn’t work against them. I thought, outside of two big runs by their best player, that we held them in check on the defensive side of the ball so I don’t want to change too much there.”
“You want to change things up, but because it was such a close game and things did work in our favor, you also don’t want to change things too much,” Harper continued. “It really becomes a big chess match between the coaching staffs. Remember they are thinking the same way we are right now, what to change and what not to change.”
The biggest task ahead for the Trojans is to make sure that they get off to a better start than they did in the first match-up with the Hornets. The second biggest task, try and control LSU commit Matthew Langlois.
The senior running back tallied over 180 yards rushing against Sacred Heart in the first game. However, 150 of those yards came on two runs early in the contest.
“Whenever you have a talent like Langlois it makes things a lot easier,” commented Harper. “It’s though, because even if you are able to hold him down, they have other weapons they can rely on.”
“We did not do a good job at the start of the game last time against what they do best, but the rest of the game I thought we did held our own,” Harper continued. “We just have to come out, battle from the start and not let them jump out on us.”
Catholic sports an overall record of 6-2 and a district record of 4-0. The Hornets beat St. Ed’s 35-21 this past Friday night. Catholic’s only two losses came against Riverside and Episcopal.
The Hornets average 36.1 points per game.