Blue Jays open district play at FRA

NEW ROADS – The Blue Jays begin the defense of their District 5-1A title at False River Academy Friday in New Roads.
Both St. Edmund (1-4) and False River (2-3) struggled with their non-district schedules that included two common opponents.
“This is a five game schedule to win the district championship,” St. Edmund head coach Thomas David said.
Based on the current LHSAA power rankings, four of the six district teamsare in the Top 25.
St. Edmund is presently sitting at No. 16, joined by No. 2 Basile (4-1), No. 5 Westminster Christian Academy (4-1) and No. 23 False River.
“It is time for us to step up and prove we can win,” the coach said. “The senior leaders understand what we have to do and what is at stake to win the title.”
The Gators opened the season with wins over East Iberville (61-8) and Houma Christian (6-0).
False River has has only scored six points in the last three weeks in losses to Christian Life Academy (61-0), Beau Chene (21-6) and Northwest (28-0).
St. Edmund opened the season with a 66-32 loss to Northwest and closed non-district play with a 21-12 loss to Beau Chene.
“We had a tough non-district schedule with the teams we played,” David said. “They are all bigger schools but the goal of the challenge was to be ready to play district.”
David said they had chances to put the game away against Beau Chene, holding onto a 12-0 advantage in the fourth quarter.
“We had chances to score more on offense but we didn’t,” the coach said. “We didn’t stop two long touchdown runs by their quarterback.
“It all comes down to execution,” David said. “If we do that, we have a chance to be a pretty good football team.”
False River Academy is primarily a running team, according to David.
“They have decent size on the offensive line and a good running game,” he said. “We need to stop the run like most teams we face.”
The Blue Jays are allowing an average of 281 yards rushing and 35 points per game, while the St. Edmund offense is averaging 224 yards through the air and 19.2 points per game.
“We would rather be 4-1 than 1-4,” David said. “But we are a young team who are hopefully growing up and working toward that district title.”