Despite an impressive jamboree game, Hahnville High School head coach Nick Saltaformaggio says his players have to get better if they expect to compete with Salmen High School in Friday’s season opener.
In the first half of last week’s jamboree, the Hahnville Tigers stormed down the field against Southern Lab to score five touchdowns, including a rushing touchdown and two passing touchdowns by quarterback Mike Neal. On defense the Tigers were dominant as well. Linebacker Dwaine Thomas blocked a punt and cornerback Jamonte Williams picked off a pass that set up Hahnville’s fifth and final touchdown of the half.
(Click here to see photos from the jamboree game.)
The second half was a different story as Hahnville’s offense sputtered. However, they recaptured their earlier success in the final two minutes of the game with Neal adding another rushing touchdown to give the Tigers a 42-12 win.
While Saltaformaggio said he was impressed with his team’s performance overall, he was disappointed with their play in the second half.
“We can’t be mentally lazy unless we are building a 35 point lead every game,” he said. “This is two weeks in a row when we dominate in the first half and the guys get a little lazy in the second.”
In particular, Saltaformaggio called out his pass defense. Although Thomas was able to pick up a pair of sacks and cause a fumble from the linebacker position, Southern Lab’s quarterback had plenty of time in the pocket and was often throwing to wide open receivers.
“[Secondary] is the weakest spot of our defense right now,” Saltaformaggio said.
Pass and kick coverage are Saltaformaggio’s two main concerns heading into this week’s game against Salmen, who brings a pass heavy spread offense to the table that’s led by senior quarterback Ray Crochet.
“Offensively they are going to be a spread team, they have a tall kid at QB who can spin it well. We are going to have to be good in coverage and sound in our gaps to make sure they don’t pop a big run on us. If we can do that, we’ll be OK,” Saltaformaggio said.
Saltaformaggio added that his secondary is going to have to step up and show that they can defend the pass against Salmen.
“As far as what we are working on, everyone is going to throw the ball on us until we can defend it,” he said.
Despite their troubles on defense heading into the season opener, Saltaformaggio said one thing is for certain – Hahnville coaches likes what they have seen so far out of Neal at quarterback.
“Neal is everything we thought he would be and even more,” Saltaformaggio said.
Although Salmen went 3-8 last year, Saltaformaggio said his team will be facing a tough defense that should challenge them.
“Those guys are going to be a very sound defense. I am not foreign to those guys. I’ve coached against them for the past six years,” he said. “They are a physical team. We need to keep our pad level down and keep working against them.”
However, Saltaformaggio expects his team’s triple option attack to be difficult to defend.
“With all due respect, all of these are spread teams – they are easy to prepare for, we are not,” he said.
Kickoff for Salmen vs. Hahnville will be at Tiger Stadium in Boutte at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 5.
“I just want to be 1-0 at 10:30 p.m.,” Saltaformaggio said.
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