Blazers hope to Rayne supreme

Week 2 of the high school football season gets underway tonight, with Lake Charles College Prep head coach Erick Franklin hoping for an encore performance from his Trail Blazers, who will host Rayne at Cougar Stadium tonight after opening the season with a 47-0 win over Pickering.

Rayne is making a return trip to the area after losing 41-16 at Welsh last week.

Franklin said stopping Rayne’s running game is the top priority.

“They run it well,” he said. “They are well coached and have athletes all over the field.”

Franklin is looking for his defensive line, led by Tay Alexander and JaCalon Pitre, to produce another strong effort coming off a shutout.

“The line is our strength on defense,” he said. “They played physical and fast last week. They have to stop the run, that is going to be the difference in the game.”

While Franklin said he’s hoping his team stays on course, a pair of his District 4-3A peers will be seeking a reversal of fortune after opening the season with losses.

Jennings (0-1) will host longtime rival Eunice (1-0) while Washington-Marion (0-1) will host DeRidder (1-0).

Eunice at Jennings

Bulldogs head coach Rusty Phelps said injuries and miscues plagued his team last week in a 30-21 loss at Church Point.

“We were without two starters, then lost two more,” he said. “We had penalties at crucial times. We had a touchdown called back. We got behind the chains on first down with penalties. We gave up a safety on a punt that ended up being a nine-point swing.”

Phelps said he’s hoping having a game under their belt and a good week of practice gets the Bulldogs back on track.

“We had a lot of kids in a varsity game for the first time last week,” he said. “A lot of the mistakes we made are correctable. We had a good start to practice this week. Eunice has a good team again; we mirror each other in a lot of ways in terms of ball control, physical defense. It seems like our games always comes down to one mistake or turnover.”

DeRidder at W-M

W-M head coach DeCarlos Holmes said nothing went right for his team in a 38-18 loss at Leesville last week.

“We stunk up the place,” he said. “There were penalties, mental errors, kids were dehydrating — it was just a bad game for us. We have to do better as a team, coaching staff and program.”

The Dragons opened with a 41-12 win over South Beauregard.

“They are good on the offensive and defensive lines,” Holmes said of the Golden Knights. “The running back (Damian Latham) is good and the quarterback (Lane Armer) is a good player. We are going to have our hands full.”

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