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Despite an atmosphere of love and hope before the game, Central Catholic and St. John went head-to-head in Central Catholic’s annual Pink game Tuesday in Morgan City.
In a battle of top-five teams in Division V, No. 5 Central Catholic held off No. 4 St. John in four sets (25-16, 27-29, 25-22 and 25-16).
Prior to the game, a check valued at $1,200 was presented to Beth Hamilton of Oncologics in New Iberia.
“Our Pink game is very important to so many,” Central Catholic Coach Latashia Wise said. “When I first got here five years ago, I wanted to make this game big, and it keeps growing every year, and I’m very thankful that we get the support we do from our student body, our parents and school leaders to make this a success each year. I love fighting for this cause.”
Breast cancer survivors Anita Louviere and Elizabeth Welch were honored before the game. Both ladies participated in honorary first serves.
“Every year we try to reach out to people related to our players,” Wise said. “It’s unfortunate that we can do that each year from such a small group, but it’s a reality so we accept the challenge.”
As for the match, in Game 1, the Lady Eagles jumped out to a 9-4 lead before St. John scored four points to pull to 9-8. Standout Yani Johnson put an end to St. John’s run with an emphatic kill at the net. Johnson served three aces to take Central Catholic to a 23-16 before Central Catholic closed the set with a 25-16 win.
In Game 2, however, St. John stormed out to a 6-0 lead before Central Catholic regrouped to tie the match at 9. The match remained tight throughout, with ties at 24, 26 and 27 before St. John found open court between two Lady Eagles for the 29-27 win.
Game 3 was close also before Johnson pounded a couple kills and Bailee Lipari served two aces. Johnson’s serve brought Central Catholic to a 23-21 lead, and Caroline Green went above the net on a block. The Lady Eagles won the contest, 25-22.
Johnson led the way with 21 kills, five aces, five digs, and 10 solo blocks. Other stat leaders were Ava Nicar with seven kills and two digs; Haley Fontenot, six kills, seven digs and a solo block; Green, six kills and 10 solo blocks; Taylor Picou, a kill, 11 assists, two aces and 15 digs; Katie Hoffpauir, 25 assists, an ace and 13 digs; Emma Simmons, seven digs; Quincee Wiggins, 26 digs; Brooke Lipari an assist and nine digs; and Bailee Lipari, two kills, five aces and seven digs.
“I don’t want discredit St. John at all,” Wise said. “They’re the No. 4 ranked team in Division 5 and a really good team, but I don’t think we played well at all. We didn’t serve/receive well, and we didn’t serve as well as we wanted to, but we got the win. We just came off a long weekend at the Terrebonne Classic where we got the win, playing six matches, so I think we were a little tired tonight.”
Central Catholic travels to Houma Christian Wednesday with the district championship on the line.

Deer season in much of St. Mary Parish has been open since Oct. 1, when archers took to the woods.
Last Saturday, the Area 7 primitive weapon deer season got underway. But, the big show starts Saturday when the firearms (still-hunt) only season begins.
With the weather being unseasonably warm the early part of October, it’s hard to get excited about deer hunting when the mercury is pushing high in the thermometer.
But, with the front that pushed through during the early part of the week, it ought to kick in some deer hormones where hunters should begin to see some rutting activity.
St. Mary Parish is unique in that it has divergent rut periods. Typically, around the third week of October, the rut begins in the marsh and runs into mid-December. I’ve personally found it difficult to differentiate between what most hunters refer to as a first and second rut in Area 7, because of this divergence. My guess it will be much the same for the 2017-2018 hunting season.
A review of the 2016-2017 Louisiana Deer Report released by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries reveals that annual deer harvest numbers peaked in the late ’90s and early 2000s. For several years during that period, hunters harvested more than 250,000 whitetail deer annually.
Since, deer harvest numbers have been in steady decline and have sort of crisscrossed the 150,000 mark. Last season, Louisiana hunters harvested 138,300 whitetails.
A couple of concerns deer managers continue to look at are low lactation rates and a feral hog population that saw some 130,600 pigs harvested by hunters – a number nearly equal to deer harvest totals.
By studying the lactation rates of does, it provides biologists an estimate of the reproductive health of the herd. In short, it impacts recruitment, where there will be fewer fawns in the mix the following year.
In the course of 2015-2016, lactation rates in all eight of Louisiana’s physiographic regions, except one, had less than 50 percent of the does lactating. Physiographic simply means those landforms specific to a region, such as piney woods, bottomland hardwoods, coastal marsh, etc.
“We did see improved lactation rates during the 2016-2017 season,” Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Deer Program Manger Johnathan Bordelon said. “In addition, harvest was down, but the combination of improved production and reduced harvest should set the stage for a good season in 2017-2018.”
Louisiana hunters, for all intents and purposes, are harvesting as many hogs as they are deer these days, give or take a few. The problem with a burgeoning hog population is hogs directly compete with deer for food resources. They also prey on fawns and carry diseases such as leptospirosis and brucellosis.
It will take intense management effort to come even close to putting a dent in hog populations, as the animal’s reproductive rate far exceeds that of deer. Essentially, hogs are here to stay, and their harvest numbers will again rival deer harvest.
For the 2017-2018 deer season, there are a few notable changes hunters need to be aware of. Deer limits have been changed in areas 4 and 10. Hunters in these areas only will be allowed to harvest three deer of which includes no more than two antlered or two antlerless deer per season.
The reporting window also has changed this year. Previously, hunters had a seven-day reporting window. In 2017 the reporting period is 72 hours.
And, lastly, a portion of Deer Area 8 has been consolidated into Deer Area 3. It will be important for hunters to become familiar with the boundary of these areas for the upcoming season.
Year in and year out, Louisiana deer hunters harvest their share of big bucks. Some interesting statistics that Bordelon reports in his deer management presentation is percent of buck harvest by age class. In all eight physiographic regions, more than 50 percent of bucks harvested are more than 2-1/2 years old.
In bottomland hardwood habitats, the biologist says 79 percent of bucks are more than 3-1/2 years old and 54 percent are 4-1/2 years.
According to Bordelon, 2017 has been unseasonable wet. The frequent rainfall has promoted favorable growing conditions across most of the state, the biologist says, although some areas will be negatively impacted due to localized flooding.
Whenever flooding occurs, it can reduce the amount of available habitat.
Nonetheless, look for the 2017-2018 deer season to be much like last year harvest-wise, with plenty of big bucks winding up in taxidermist studios.

Wade Gussman Photography
Patterson Mayor Rodney Grogan signs a proclamation making next week Patterson High School homecoming week. Grogan is shown with members of the homecoming court. The week will be capped by the Oct. 27 football game with Erath. Front row from left: Kilee Deglandon, Shea Fontenot, Lane Larive, Rodney Grogan, Maya Madise, Destiny Dugar and Tapanga Haven. Middle row: Jaylon Jennings, Kendall Wiggins, Bailie Ashley, Ashlynn Rock, Alero Hartman, Madison Paul, Morgan Jones, Kiora Grady and Reginald Rideau. Back row: Brandt Lightsey, Jonathan Acosta, Ryan Galloway, Brad Beaubouef, Hayden Pinho, Zachary Burke, Dontre Nicholas, Tyler Davis and Colby Pogue.

September 19, 1937 -October 19, 2017

John Robert “Spider” Bigler Sr., 80, a resident of Stephensville, passed away Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, at his home, surrounded by his loving family.

Spider was born Sept. 19, 1937, in Morgan City, the son of George and Edna Stansbury Bigler.

Spider was a faithful member of Pharr Chapel United Methodist Church, Doric Lodge #87 and the St. Mary Parish Shriner Club. He was also a member of the Krewe of Bacchus in New Orleans.

After retiring from Murphy Oil, Spider and Adrienne moved to Stephensville where he loved living on the bayou. In the evenings, he could be found sitting on the back porch taking in the quietness. Spider loved his LSU Tigers! Of all the things that Spider did in his life, his children and grandchildren were his world and most prized possession, and he loved spending as much time as he could with them.

He will be sadly missed and lovingly remembered by his wife, Adrienne Tibbs Bigler of Stephensville; three children, Jeanetta Phinney and husband Tim of New Orleans, John Robert Bigler II and wife Durlene of Houma, and Trent Bigler and wife Dainell of Morgan City; seven grandchildren, Sayre Phinney, Brock Bigler, Alistair Phinney, Taylor Cox, Jace Bigler, Jared Bigler and Quinn Bigler; two great-grandchildren, Bentley Bigler and Tate Cox; one sister, Georgie Ann Bigler of Morgan City; and his beloved cat, Sami.

Spider was preceded in death by his parents, George and Edna Stansbury Bigler; and one sister, Doris Rulf.

Funeral services will be held at noon on Monday, Oct. 23, 2017, at Pharr Chapel United Methodist Church with Rev. Ann Sutton officiating. A visitation will be held from 9 a.m. until the time of the service.

Following the funeral services, Spider will be laid to rest in the Morgan City Cemetery Mausoleum.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be given to The Shriners Hospitals for Children, 3100 Samford Avenue, Shreveport, LA 71103.