Blue Jays brace for 3-A Raiders

The first five non-district games for St. Edmund are against higher classification teams beginning this week at home against the Northwest Raiders.
But Blue Jay head coach Thomas David wants to see his team respond to the challenges ahead.
“When you step on the field we need to be ready to compete,” the coach said. “We need to rise to the challenge.
“I would rather test oursleves every week than play a schedule that gives us a win by just stepping on the field.
“By the end of the regular season we should be battle tested and ready for the playoffs.”
Northwest senior runningback Chris Lee gained 106 yards on five carries and scored twice in the Raiders’ 32-0 win over Opelousas in the St. Landry Parish jamboree.
Northwest finished with 216 yards rushing and limited OHS to just 11 yards of total offense.
“This will be a test,” David said. “Lee is a big, physical back who runs very well.
“They have skill players and a good line up front too.”
St. Edmund fell 20-8 to Notre Dame in the Joe Nagata Memorial jamboree last week.
“I thought we had some guys to step up and compete but we have some things to clean up,” David said.
Blue Jay quarterback Drake Brunet was 9-of-23 for 130 yards with an interception.
William Chachere finished with four receptions for 99 yards including a 58-yard scoring strike from Brunet in the first half.
David said he was concerned about the lack of a running game and the failure to score more points against the Pioneers.
“We got into the red zone and we didn’t convert,” he said. “We need to do a better job of executing our offense as we didn’t make the plays on crucial downs to extend drives.”
Steve Zaunbrecher lead the Pioneers with 146 yards on just three carries with touchdown runs of 71 and 80 yards.
“We need to better at stopping the run,” David said. “We need to limit the big plays.”