By TOM HALLIBURTON
Port Arthur News Sports Writer
PORT NECHES – Indians have a way of sticking with their time-honored traditions.
That’s one way of explaining why Jacksonville coach Danny Long plans to bring his blue and gold Indians’ tribe to The Reservation on Saturday.
The 10th-year Jacksonville tribe leader has played a Mid-County team in the second round of the 4A state football playoffs for the last four years. He’s 2-2, beating PN-G in 1996 and Nederland in 1997 while losing to Nederland the last two years.
The University Interscholastic League put an end to that tradition by shifting Jacksonville into Region II at February’s realignment. The East Texas Indians have moved to 15-4A from 17-4A. So the Jacksonville/Mid-County matchup is strictly playoff history, unless it occurs in a state championship game.
But Jacksonville/Mid-County regular season is alive and well in the first of a two-year home-and-home contract with PN-G.
“We can say for sure that the best Indians are going to win,” Long said Thursday from his Jacksonville coaches office. “I keep telling our kids this will be the biggest crowd they’ve played in front of since the Astrodome.”
Having lost a 21-14 opener to Kilgore in a big-rival confrontation, Jacksonville (0-1) does exactly the things which could bother PN-G’s rather green pass defense.
Good thing for the purple and white is that PN-G (1-0) also has an element of its game which can prove Jacksonville to be vulnerable on defense. Translation: Matt Burnett’s Tribe is huge, at least in Long’s estimation.
“They are big boys,” the Jacksonville coach said. “I just see a typical PN-G team that’s extremely well-drilled. They’re picture perfect. The thing is, we won’t line up with kids like Crosby. They (PN-G vs. Crosby) were like two college teams lining up against each other.”
Between PN-G’s size and Jacksonville’s speed, an expected Indian Stadium crowd of more than 9,000 is guaranteed to hear the familiar tune “Cherokee” quite often.
Jacksonville’s mentor just hopes that the right-colored jerseys catch the passes this year.
“Last year when we threw the ball in the Astrodome against you guys, we threw it to Nederland, instead of our receivers,” Long recalled.
As for PN-G’s transportation means, seventh-year mentor Burnett liked the balance in his run/pass ratio. But Matt would like to see his offense run for more than 100 yards and pass for more than 102 as it did in the Crosby game.
“We’d like to move the ball better, but there’s nothing to panic about in it,” Burnett said. “It’s not anything we can’t improve through film studies. Crosby had eight guys on defense coming back from a 10-2 team and they deserved a lot of credit.”
The same can be written of Trayce Boudoin, Jeff Leblanc, Jared Gary and the PN-G defense which threw a shutout at Crosby’s offense, allowing 103 total yards.
PN-G’s defense was challenged over and over against Crosby. They received ample credit from their head coach for finding a way to win.
“Our defense really picked it up another notch,” PN-G’s coach said. “They looked around and found we were struggling. They knew in order to win that we had to keep them out of the end zone.”
Why did PN-G’s offense struggle? Why did Indians’ tailback Jeff Bergeron rush 12 times for 43 yards? A combination of reasons can account for it, starting with PN-G’s offensive inexperience, Crosby’s defensive experience and Crosby’s surprises.
“The No. 1 thing was that they came up with a whole new front that we hadn’t seen and we didn’t adjust to very well,” Burnett said. “But it’s all things we can correct. It was obvious that our inexperience showed up. We missed some blocks. The good thing is they (PN-G’s players) are the type of kids who are as concerned about it as I was.”
Burnett did not make excuses but line absentees did come a bit unexpectedly. Center/defensive end Justin Mercer came down with a virus on Thursday and was unable to play. The biggest of PN-G’s blockers, 302-pound Michael Thibodeaux, missed the game due to a lower back strain.
Jacksonville has its own pair of 300-pounders – senior defensive linemen Jami Hightower (6-4, 310) and Quentin Holman (6-2, 300) but Long says his team relies mainly on quickness.
“We can pitch and catch and spread the ball around as we have in the past,” Jacksonville’s coach said. “We’re a similar team to what we were two years ago.
“The best part of our defense? I haven’t seen it yet. We’re replacing nine starters.”
Long’s greatest concern revolves around PN-G’s ability to line up and establish a power running game – something the purple and white did little of last week. You can bet it’s another time-honored tradition PN-G will wish to keep.
FAST FACTS
· When: Saturday, 6 p.m.
· Where: Memorial Stadium, Port Neches
· Internet: tsrnsports.com
· Television: Port Arthur News Friday Night Experience, Cable 7, Sunday and Monday nights at 7:30 p.m.
· Radio: KOLE-AM (1340)
· Records: Jacksonville 0-1, PN-G 1-0.
· Series: PN-G leads 2-1
· Last year: Did not play
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
JACKSONVILLE OFFENSE
SE – Nick Hooker (80)
QT – Jeremy Pate (79)
QG – Joel Warren (78)
C – Sammy Nasr (60)
SG – Donald Williams (50)
ST – Chris Childs (65)
TE – Jeremy Beall (41)
QB – Matt Turner (15)
FB – Bryan McKinney (42)
TB – Dimetric Lyons (22)
FL – Craig Harvey (87)
PN-G DEFENSE
LE – Elliot Adams (50)
LT – Michael Brignac (82)
RT – Jeremy Davis (80)
RE – Jared Gary (81)
LOLB – Jeff LeBlanc (21)
LILB – Trayce Boudoin (46)
RILB – Cody Clark (34)
ROLB – Brady Flores (30)
LCB – Keegan Swann (26)
RCB – Adam Guillory (88)
FS – Troy Cooley (11)
PN-G OFFENSE
SE – Jonathan Lumbley (10)
LT – Colin Anderson (61)
LG – Raymond Melancon (65)
C – Paul O’Rourke (52)
RG – Elliot Adams (50)
RT – Joseph Hollis (75)
TE – Michael Brignac (82)
QB – Kirk Hallmark (12)
FB – Josh Hidalgo (22)
TB – Jeff Bergeron (24)
FL – Joey Price (8)
JACKSONVILLE DEFENSE
LE – Jacob Jones (44)
LT – Jami Hightower (86)
NG – Quentin Holmen (73)
RT – Ronald Williams (56)
RE – Ken Horn (45)
SLB – Eric Foreman (30)
WLB – Terry Jones (20)
LCB – Quentilly Harmon (2)
RCB – Vernon Donnell (6)
FS – Kenneth Stafford (3)
SS – Patrick Ragsdale (13)
