Vernon Parish football teams should be well-rested coming off a pair of Thursday that featured all three teams.
Now it’s back to traditional football Friday as the parish trio tries to make their way toward district titles and playoff contention.
After Rosepine (6-0, 1-0) handled Pickering (1-5, 0-1) this past week in the “Battle for the Big Dog Jug,” the Eagles will host Plain Dealing. The Lions just ended the state’s longest losing streak at 49 games with its win against Pine Prairie.
Pickering will lick its wounds and try to start its three-game homestand off right when East Beauregard visits.
Leesville (5-1, 1-0) will look to keep is District 3-4A train rolling when they head to North Vermilion (5-1).
LEESVILLE
The Wampus Cats didn’t have any trouble with new district member Rayne, and they’ll get another new district member in North Vermilion for the programs’ first-ever meeting.
Leesville worked on its passing game against Rayne (2-4, 0-1) in a 49-6 win as Trel Broom and Brayden Vargas combined to throw for 314 yards and five touchdowns on 15-18 passing.
The Wampus Cats rolled up 114 rushing yards on just 13 carries led by Grant Braxton’s 75 yards, which pushes him across the 3,000-yard mark for his career.
Leesville scored 43 points in the first half.
With Julius Brown’s six catches for 82 yards, the receiver is just five receptions away from tying Levander Liggins for the school’s all-time receptions record (118). Brown has 113 catches for 1,875 yards in his career, according to the Leesville Wampus Cat Football History Facebook page.
North Vermilion’s record looks nice, but their 4.33 strength factor is the lowest in Division II Non-Select.
The Patriots’ best win is Class 1A St. Martin’s Episcopal (28-7) in the opener. St. Martin’s is the only North Vermilion win whose is slated to make the playoffs currently.
When North Vermilion did tussle with a Division II playoff caliber team in No. 18 Erath, they fell 45-20.
Leesville is sitting at No. 9 in those rankings and could push its way into bye territory by winning their last four games, which includes Week 9 date at Jena and Week 10 date at Lake Charles College Prep.
ROSEPINE
Belief can be contagious, and Plain Dealing (1-5) just might believe after ending their 49-game losing streak with a 22-0 shutout of Pine Prairie.
But the Eagles won’t pay any mind to that as their superior depth overwhelmed Pickering in their Vernon Parish clash this past week.
Rosepine just has to focus enough on Plain Dealing without turning too much of an eye to undefeated Vinton next week, which appears to be the de facto district title game.
The Eagles have won all six games by double digits with its 54-point win over Pickering, the largest of the season and the largest since a 56-point win against Pickering in 2022.
The shutout is also the first since the 2023 blanking of Pickering as the Eagles have won 15 of the last 18 in the series.
This season, Rosepine is winning its games by an average of 35 points.
Plain Dealing has been shut out in four of their six games, and they’ll face a Rosepine defense that’s held all six opponents to 20 points or less and three to single digits.
The Eagles are sitting at No. 5 in Division III Non-Select, but their low strength factor (3.33) should improve some with Vinton on the schedule.
PICKERING
The Red Devils playoff hopes are slipping as Pickering sits at No. 35 in the Division IV Non-Select power rankings.
Pickering’s last three games are all at home, starting with East Beauregard (3-3, 1-0 District 5-2A) on Friday.
The Trojans are riding high after a 44-20 win against DeQuincy, Pickering’s Week 8 opponent.
The Red Devils need to reverse both offensive and defensive trends to score multiple victories in the last three weeks.
After shutting out Pine Prairie, Pickering has allowed an average of 48 points in its five-game losing streak.
The Red Devils dropped 47 in its opener, but they haven’t totaled that number (40) in their last five games combined.
East Beauregard snapped a three-game skid with its win against DeQuincy with its other two wins against Merryville (30-9) and Northwood-Lena (48-8).
Merryville contributed to Pickering’s losing streak with a 44-20 win.