Area squads to hit the field for jamboree in Morgan City

Tri-City Area football teams will get their final tune-up for the regular season in Friday as Berwick, Patterson and Morgan City all participate in the Taco Bell Morgan City High School Jamboree at Tiger Stadium.
The event will feature Berwick facing White Castle at 6 p.m., followed by Morgan City meeting Patterson at approximately 7:45 p.m.
In the Morgan City-Patterson matchup, the game will pit a pair of second-year head football coaches at their respective schools as Patterson’s Don Jones meets Morgan City High School’s Chris Stroud. Stroud was a former defensive coordinator for Jones years ago, and the two have known each other for years.
“I know he’ll have his team well prepared,” Jones said of Stroud. “They’re two things that I really don’t like. No. 1’s the picture day, and No. 2’s the jamboree, because jamborees are very deceiving, and it’s only actually two quarters.”
He said while the fans like jamborees, for the football team, “it doesn’t give you a real test,” because it isn’t a full game.
“It gives you an opportunity to see where you are with your special teams, and of course offense and defense. … We’re looking forward to it,” Jones said. “We’re very excited about this year. We’re so much physically stronger than we were last year, and even though we’re playing two inexperience quarterbacks, I feel like they’re really going to be good. They’re very athletic. They can run the football.”
A week ago in its scrimmage against South Lafourche, Patterson was unable to score, but only surrendered one touchdown that came during the live quarter.
Meanwhile, Stroud said he Patterson will run the football and has some size up front and among their running backs.
“They’ve got a quarterback that can run,” Stroud said. “I haven’t seen him pass much on film but he definitely. He’s a very good athlete.”
Defensively, Stroud said Patterson has speed.
“Again, they put two big linemen up in the middle, make you run outside to their speed, and that’s tough to do,” Stroud said.
A week ago in the scrimmage, Morgan City was unable to score, and its first-team defense surrendered three scores in first-team work and one more in the live quarter.
“The big thing, we played hard against H.L. the other night, (but) we didn’t tackle well at all,” Stroud said. “We played hard on defense, ran to the ball, great pursuit, didn’t tackle well. We missed a lot of tackles, so we need to tackle better. Hopefully, our O-Line and D-Line are getting a little better, technique wise, every week, because we’re not very big, so look for improvement there.”
In the evening’s first game, Berwick will meet White Castle.
In last week’s scrimmage, Berwick was unable to score and its defense surrendered approximately two touchdowns.
“For a young team, I think there was definitely some positives for us to build on moving forward,” Berwick Coach Mike Walker said.
Against White Castle, Walker said the Panthers will face a team with some solid skill players and speed.
“On film, they’re not a very big football team, but they’ve got some skilled athletes that can move, in particular on offense, they’ve got a quarterback that is kind of a dual-threat guy,” Walker said. (He) will extend the play with his feet and does a good job of keeping his eyes downfield. They’ve got some receivers that can run. Not a very overly physical offensive line, but they do a pretty good job of getting in people’s way and giving the athletes some seams to run.”
On defense, Walker said White Castle will “load the box and blitz every play.”
CCHS to play Friday
The Taco Bell Jamboree in Centerville was postponed until Friday due to inclement field conditions.
While the night has changed, the games will remain at the same times. Hanson Memorial will play Covenant Christian Academy at 6 p.m., while Central Catholic will meet Centerville at approximately 7:30 p.m.