December 8, 2005

If not for the winning ways of St. Charles High School and head coach Frank Monica, the weekend may have been a complete washout.

It was a tough weekend for River Parish sports fans this past weekend. In a three-day span the Hahnville Tigers, LSU Tigers and the New Orleans Saints all got beat in games many thought they would or could win.

If not for the winning ways of St. Charles High School and head coach Frank Monica, the weekend may have been a complete washout, football wise. Monica got the Comets into the Class 2A championship game this coming Friday night and he will face a very familiar foe. While St. Charles High School will play in their first Nokia Sugar Bowl Prep Classic championship game, they will face off against John Curtis High School, who has won 15 of its 20 Classic title games.

Good luck to Coach Monica and the Comets this coming Friday night because believe me they will need it while they play against one of Louisiana best high school teams, regardless of the classification.

While the losses of Hahnville and the Saints were disappointing, nothing matched the disappointment of watching the LSU Tigers really get taken to the woodshed by the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC championship game 34-14.

The Tigers offense, especially their running game, has been sputtering ever since halfback Joseph Addai’s late season ankle injury, but the most shocking part of this defeat was the ease in which the Bulldogs were able to move the football on the vaunted Tiger defense.

The Bulldogs rolled up 152 yards rushing and 112 yards passing with 2 passing scores against one of college football’s toughest defenses and you have to say point blank that Georgia was mentally and physically more ready to play than the Tigers were.

It was a bittersweet way to end a very good season for the Tigers and now they have to prepare to play one of the most athletic and physically gifted clubs in the nation in Miami (Fla.) on December 30th in the Peach Bowl.

I have always been leery about senior-oriented clubs like LSU playing in bowl games due to the distractions of family, NFL agents and senior players preparing for NFL all-star games and workouts. Tiger head coach Les Miles must do a really good sell job to his talented seniors and get this team focused to play a very good Miami (Fla.) club. If not, the 34-14 loss to Georgia will look like a walk in the park because the Hurricanes are just as talented as the Bulldogs are. Being mentally and physically fit in this game will be the key to victory.

It is very obvious that the season for the New Orleans Saints is going south and fast. And, it is almost about time for head coach Jim Haslett to give rookie quarterback Adrian McPherson more reps in practice and put him in some of the late regular season games. At 3-9 the Saints have long been out of the playoff hunt and at this stage you want to start to take a look to see if the young signal-caller from Florida State has the makeup you are looking for in a good developmental quarterback.

Many Saints veteran players say that McPherson has great physical tools, but he needs plenty of NFL seasoning and there is still some doubt on just how well he will handle an NFL pass rush on a consistent basis. But to be honest, what would be the negative at this stage by playing him?

I know that Haslett has said that he would give veteran back-up Todd Bouman an opportunity to play before McPherson, but to be honest, I have seen enough of Bouman to know that he is no starting type quarterback in the NFL. Former Saints quarterback and current WWL-Radio talk show host Bobby Hebert and I watched Bouman struggle at times to consistently complete passes in skeleton drills in practice, and so why would I think he could play with a host of pressure around him in real games.

It is obvious to everyone that Aaron Brooks has played his last season with the club (there’s a good possibility that he will end up with the Arizona Cardinals and Denny Green next season) and that a new Saints starter will have to be brought in next season.

If it’s exploring the possibility of trading for a young quarterback like David Garrard with the Jacksonville Jaguars or Phillip Rivers in San Diego or trying to trade up for USC quarterback Matt Leinart, it is time to at least take a glimpse at McPherson at this stage.

When the Georgia Bulldogs face West Virginia in the 2006 Nokia Sugar Bowl on January 2, River Parish football watchers will get a good look at former Hahnville all-state running back Darius Reynaud. Reynaud, who is now a starting wide receiver for the Mountaineers, is the team’s second leading receiver with 24 catches for 249 yards and 4 scores. Reynaud also averaged 25.5 yards per return on kickoffs in 2005.

Mike D’s Predictions: John Curtis-30, St. Charles- 14 Atlanta Falcons-23, N. O. Saints-17

Former Hahnville High School standout quarterback LaRon Landry was named to the 2nd team All-SEC Conference squad by the Associated Press. Landry, who has started the past three seasons for LSU at free safety, was third on the Tigers squad in tackles with 65 and he had a team leading 3 pass interceptions in 2005.