By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

The biggest news from the open of the prep football playoffs last Friday was the ousting of Hahnville, that is unless you’re a Rebel fan.

Riverside made a splash with the 25 seed in the bi-district round against Pope John Paul, advancing the Rebels into a home game this Friday against number nine seeded Homer Pelicans who have gone 10-1 so far this season.

But an opponent with that type of record isn’t anything that the Rebels haven’t seen this year. In district play, Riverside faced John Curtis, St. Charles, St. James and Donaldsonville, squads whose combined record is 36-7

Taking that type of schedule into account, it wouldn’t be a big surprise for the Rebels to still be alive next week for the quarter-finals. They’ve seen, and held their own with, much better teams. For that to happen though, they’ll need a big effort from the defense to corral Homer quarterback Richie Casey, who rushed for 170 yards and two touchdowns to go with four passing TDs in their win against Fisher.

Unfortunately, the winner of this contest will likely be traveling into River Ridge to face John Curtis, as the Patriots will be hosting Donaldsonville this week. In their first meeting, Riverside competed with Curtis through the first quarter, but eventually fell 54-0.

SCC, WSJ and DHS play host

With wins last week, St. Charles, West St. John and Destrehan have all grabbed home games for this Friday. East St. John, Lutcher and St. James also advanced and will take their high seeds on the road.

The Comets face number 14 seeded Ferriday, whose record came to 9-1 for the season with their win last week against University. This one should be an interesting match-up as the Ferriday offense has averaged nearly 40 points a game. St. Charles defense has been a strength as the Comets have allowed less than eight points per game. Also, consider that 40 of the 86 points that the Comets have given up this year came against John Curtis.

For West St. John, it looks to be an uphill battle as they take on the top-seeded St. John Eagles. It will be the second time this season that the Rams have hosted the Eagles. The first match-up was a district game that St. John won 42-0 and sparked their team heading into the district stretch. The Eagles have been prolific on both sides of the ball, especially

so recently as then as they have outscored opponents 270-20 since seeing meeting West St. John five weeks ago.

The one thing working in the Rams favor is that they too have been hitting on all cylinders. Since seeing the Eagles, WSJ has outscored opponents 183-36. The Rams may be 5-6 on the season, but four of those losses came to St. James, St. Charles, Riverside and St. John. West St. John has seen some of the best small schools in the state so they are battle hardened. Then again, with a small squad of less than 40 players through the course of the year, the WSJ run may finish their run against the Eagles. But if the score is close in the end, don’t count the Rams out.

Destrehan also will have their hands full as the Wildcats host a Carencro squad that eliminated Hahnville last week, preventing an all-St. Charles Parish regional showdown. Instead, DHS will face the 12-seeded Bears who have gone 7-4 so far this year. But in district 2-5A with Acadiana, Sulphur and Lafayette, Carencro is also used to tough competition. Destrehan has been doing well with back-up quarterback Ramaal Ellis, though he was banged up last week, bringing in former starter Jordan Jefferson to hold down the fort. Consistency and perseverance has been a trademark of DHS this year. This one could be a blowout or a barnburner.