Sports

After kicking off the 2019 football season in Vidalia last Saturday night at the Vidalia Jamboree, the LaSalle Tigers are ready to face their first test of the year this Friday night as they take on the Beekman Charter Tigers.

LaSalle is looking for redemption after losing a heartbreaker to Beekman for the season’s opener last year in triple overtime at the Beekman school near Bastrop.

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For the second consecutive season the Jena Giants open their season on the campus of ULM as the Giants participated in the annual Bayou Jamboree. All of the top programs in Northeast Louisiana would participate in the two-day jamboree.

Last season saw the Giants pick up a 34-14 win over the OCS Eagles. This season the Giants would take on the defending class 3A state runner-up Sterlington Panthers.

The Panthers return a veteran offense including returning starters quarterback Hayes Crockett, fullback Jordan Townsend, and tailback Dallas Reagor.

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The high waters around the state this spring and summer have resulted in more alligator sightings. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) Alligator Program warns the public not to feed them as doing so can create a potentially dangerous situation for you and others who utilize the water.

When alligators are fed by humans, they start associating people with an easy food source, bringing them in much closer proximity to people than they normally would. This can lead to increased opportunity for dangerous conflict between people and alligators. Simply put, they may see humans as source of food once they become accustomed to being fed, according LDWF experts.

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The Jena Giants football team come into this season in kind of a rebuilding/reloading year after losing 11 senior starters from last year’s team. They also lost the most winningest senior class in school history. But with the way that Jena head coach Jay Roark has built the program instead of looking to rebuild they just reload.

This offseason was one of the best for Giants as they had great attendance to summer workouts as the new batch of Giants look to make their mark on the program. The Giants return a couple of senior starters from last year’s team that should help in reloading as senior running back Trelon Jones, senior wide receiver Cameron Jackson, senior linebacker Daniel Moss, and senior linebacker Wesley Humphries return as three year starters.

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The list of Jena Giants who have signed to play at the collegiate level continues to grow. Last week, Jena High’s all-star, multisport standout, 2019 graduate Shaun Todd signed his name to play baseball at Texas College in Tyler, Texas.

Todd, who dominated in football, basketball, and baseball during his years at Jena High and could have played any of the three at the next level, ultimately chose baseball as his ticket to earn his college degree.

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For LaSalle Tiger Head Football Coach Derek White, the key to a successful season in one of his toughest schedules ever is simple: No turnovers!

“We literally lost the first three games of last year due to turnovers,” White said in an exclusive interview last week. “That seemed to set the stage for our entire season as we gave the ball away more than we had it.”

The Tigers, which finished last year with an overall record of 5-6 and a District 3-1A record of 3-2, lost in the first round of the playoffs against Slaughter Community Charter.

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Eighth year Jena Giant Head Football Coach Jay Roark has overseen one of the most dramatic program turnarounds in recent years. Under his leadership, the Giant football team has gone from everybody wanting to schedule them for homecoming games (for an easy win), to today, when hardly anybody wants to schedule them at all.

“I am so thankful for the success this program has achieved, and I’m telling you it’s not just me, it’s everyone involved, but at the same time we find ourselves having to schedule tougher and tougher schools because others don’t want to play us,” he said during an exclusive interview last week.

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Outdoors

It’s unfortunate but it’s a fact. The number of youngsters who eventually become hunters is in a slow fall. Why is that?

Greg Patterson with Ducks Unlimited put his finger on one of the main problems…”To recruit new hunters, it takes hunting families. I was introduced to it by my father; he was introduced to it by his father. When you have boys and girls without a hunter in the household, it’s tough to give them the experience.”

The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that the number of hunters age 16 and older declined 10% between 1996 and 2006.

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