By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

ST. JAMES — When St. James coach Rick Gaille sees Westgate on film, he sees a team that mirrors his own in many ways.

Both teams are disciples of the Wing-T offense. Both boast a 4-3 as its base defense.

But Gaille said that after his team’s 20-6 loss to West St. John — one in which he believes his team did not stand up to the challenge of that game’s physical nature — much has to change if the Wildcats hope to garner their first win of the season on Friday night at St. James.

“Westgate, as is very typical of most Southwest Louisiana football teams, are big and extremely physical. They enjoy running into people. I’m not sure this is such a great time for that … this is going to be another test for us.”

Aside from victory, the coach has a clear focus and goal for this week: he wants to see more discipline and physical play.

“They go hand in hand,” said Gaille. “You have be physical in the right way. When you’re disciplined and confident that you’re in the right position and where you need to be, you play more confidentially. And the physical play will come off of that.”

Strategically, Gaille and his staff will have to fix what ailed the team’s offense on Friday night. West St. John loaded the box with blitzers all night and on many occasions busted through to either disrupt a run or break down a passing play. Quarterback Ben Falgoust on some occasions was hit upon taking the snap of the ball, or interrupted while handing off to a back.

“They emphasized pressure on our offense and attacked the line, especially inside of the tackles. And we did not respond at all,” said Gaille.

Gaille saved some praise for his running backs – LaRohn Cambre, Lester Verret, Kenneth Armant and Junior Champagne — for their hard running.

“You expect them to play hard, but you don’t always get what you expect. They met those expectations, though,” said Gaille. “They played with a great attitude.”

Westgate fell at Breaux Bridge on Friday, 28-26.

LUTCHER LOOKS TO BOUNCE BACK – Lutcher has a loaded pre-district schedule again, just as it had a year ago. The Bulldogs ran the table on a slate that included Dutchtown, Scotlandville, Hahnville, Destrehan and Warren Easton. But the Bulldogs were finally felled in week one when Dutchtown took a 28-14 victory.

The Bulldogs fell behind 28-0 in the first half, but managed to hold the Griffins’ new spread offense down in the second half of play. Lutcher rallied to score 14 but could cut it no closer.

“In the second half, we played like I thought we would,” said Lutcher coach Tim Detillier said.

Detillier hopes to see the positive second half momentum carry over to his team’s matchup with Scotlandville this week. A season ago, Scotlandville fought the Bulldogs tough in that game — it was 7-0 until late in the first half—but LHS surged to capture a 28-0 victory.

The Bulldogs’ usual suspects got rolling in Friday night’s second half as Daniel Taylor and Jarvis Landry each scored touchdowns.

Scotlandville fell to Class 4A McKinley last week, 47-23.