Working for a win

A win, any win, is huge for teams during the course of a football season, especially if said team has not been able to collect a win at all.
Tomorrow night, both the Mamou Demons (0-2, 0-1) and the Pine Prairie Panthers (0-4, 0-1) will be fighting for that all important first win when the two teams go head-to-head at Pine Prairie in a District 5-3A contest. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
According to Mamou head coach Dwight Collins, making that win happen will take a ton more focus from his team.
“We just have to make sure that our execution improves a whole lot this week,” stated Collins. “Against Ville Platte, we got the looks that we thought we would get, but we just did not execute the game plan. We had a whole lot of mental busts.”
“We will be getting a few guys back that have been out, so hopefully that will help us on both sides of the ball,” Collins continued. “Practices have been more intense than last week. We will see if that translates on the field Friday night.”
This past Friday night in their 18-12 loss to the Bulldogs, Mamou struggled in one key area, red zone offense. The Demons were able to reach inside the Ville Platte 15-yard line on four different occasions, but came away with points only one time.
“We had our chances to put some distance between ourselves and Ville Platte and did not take advantage of those situations,” said Collins. “Too many blown calls, and mental lapses prevented us from being able to capitalize. We definitely need to clean that up this week.”
On the flip side of the coin, the Pine Prairie Panthers and head coach Richard Clark felt good about their performance against the Northwest Raiders in a 20-0 district loss.
“I thought it was a competitive game,” commented Clark. “I felt we came to play football. Our defense finally figured the tackling thing this week. However, we struggled on offense. They had some big guys up front with experience and we started three freshmen on the offensive line. Because of that we just could not find any rhythm on offense.”
Against Northwest, Pine Prairie only managed 58 total yards, including 39 yards on the ground. However, the Panthers are expecting the return of some key players this coming week, including running back Elijah George.
“Getting some key guys back from injury is going to be huge for us,” said Clark. “The key is that can get back in shape in a hurry. Some of these players have not played since week one. But, any time you can get starting players back in the line-up is huge.”
The game between these two schools has become somewhat of a friendly rivalry along the north-south corridor of Highway 13. One thing is for sure, anything can happen when Mamou and Pine Prairie clash on the gridiron.
Since 2009, the Panthers have taken down the Demons six out of 11 games played. Mamou won the first four contests between the two schools, Pine Prairie then went on a six game win streak. Last season the Demons got the best of the Panthers in a 35-7 game.
Collins acknowledged that the rivalry beteween the two schools has given his players a little extra step at practice this past week.
“For the players, it is exciting to play a team where you know a lot of the players on the opposing team,” stated Collins. “The coaches know some of the coaches over there. There are a few kids that played at Mamou Middle school that are now playing at Pine Prairie. It gives them a little more motivation.”
As far as what Collins sees in the Panthers, the Demons’ head coach was quick to point out that because of the coaching change at Pine Prairie, it was hard to pinpoint what they may or may not do on both sides of the ball.
“It is difficult to get a read on Pine Prairie because of the change in their head coaching position,” said Collins. “We are going to have to prepare as best we can for everything. They have some size and some pretty good athletes. It will be interesting to see how we adjust to what they come out in.”
Clark sees some similarities between his squad and Mamou.
“Mamou really looks like us on film,” said Clark. “Their defensive scheme is very similar to ours. They have guys that hurt you big time if they are able to get in the open field. We are going to have to rely on our tackling to make sure they do not get the big plays. We definitely need to get the offense on track if we want to come away with a win.”