Blue Jays face undefeated OC

OPELOUSAS - The Blue Jays will see a familiar face across the field Friday night when St. Edmund travels to Opelouas Catholic.
OC is undefeated under former St. Ed head coach Thomas David.
The Vikings opened the year with a 34-0 win over Port Barre and then battled to a 34-27 win over Central Catholic of Morgan City.
The Blue Jays (1-1) are coming off a 7-0 win over rival Iota for new St. Edmund head coach Andy Hargroder.
“As bad as things were going, we found a way to win,” the coach said. “That is big.”
“The defense played lights out,” Hargroder said. “But our offense has to get better.
“We need to make first downs to keep their offense off the field,” he said. “We need to control the game on offense and play good defense, but we can’t expect our defense to shut out everybody.”
OC is led by quarterback Sam Jarrell and running back Kane Armand, who helped the Vikings roll up 377 yards of total offense against Central Catholic.
Armand gained 47 yards and scored three times on just four carrries.
Jarrell completed 7-of-12 passes for 134 yards, including a 45-yard scoring strike to Cameron Lee.
Jarrell also gained 79 yards on 16 carries and scored on a 36-yard run in the fourth quarter against the Eagles.
Central Catholic gained 197 yards rushing and another 108 yards passing against the Vikings.
“They have been running the ball alot,” Hargroder said of the Vikings offense. “It is very important for our guys to read their keys and stay in their gaps.
“We need to stop plays at the line of scrimmage and not give up a big play.”
The rivalry is between the Blue Jays and Vikings, not between the coaches, Hargroder said.
“It is not personal,” he said, “The Blue Jays just want to be the Vikings.
“The kids know what he (David) did here,” Hargroder said. “They understand his system and that could help us on defense.”
After falling 22-14 in overtime to the Vikings in 2009, St. Edmund went 4-0 aainst OC including a 46-0 romp in 2011.
OC has won the last two outings, 48-26 in 2015 and 46-32 in 2014.