Ville Platte travels to the “Land of the Jays” Friday night

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Two teams with identical records will face off tomorrow night when the Ville Platte Bulldogs travel down Highway 13 to take on the St. Edmund Blue Jays in a critical non-district match-up. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
Ville Platte evened their record to 2-2 on the season with a 53-12 dismantling of the North Central Hurricanes this past Friday night. In that game, the Bulldogs regained their stride on offense, especially in the run game, pounding out 236 yards on the ground.
Senior tailback churned out 132 yards on 16 carries and scored two touchdowns to lead the way for Ville Platte.
“Against North Central, we got off to a slow start,” stated Ville Platte head coach Jorie Randle. “But, once we started to click and the running game got going, all the chips fell into place for us. This was a good win for us. North Central was much improved from past teams. They were very athletic and that gave us some trouble at the start of the game, but the defense came around and made the adjustments necessary to pick up the win.”
The Bulldogs started the season with a big win over Sacred Heart in the Tee Cotton Bowl, but since then have failed to capitalize on their early success, losing their next two contests. That path sounds familiar to Randle, as the Blue Jays have taken the same road on the way to their 2-2 record.
“When I look at St. Ed’s, they remind me of us in a number of ways,” said Randle. “Not only do they have the same record as us, they also won their first and fourth games of the season. They have also played similar type competition. The offense that they run is comparable to us as well. So, it will be a good measuring stick for us to see how we play against a well put together team.”
Last week, the Blue Jays rolled up 396 yards of offense in their 47-0 shut-out of Highland Baptist, with most of that coming on the ground.
Randle believes the biggest key to taking home a win against St. Ed’s will lie with his offense and not his defense.
“If we can sustain our running game, we will be able to keep the ball away from them and not allow them to have many chances to score,” commented Randle. “But, when our defense is out on the field, our linebackers will have to make sure we are in the right look.”