In the game of the week in St. John the Baptist Parish, the Riverside Rebels, who are on a six-game winning streak, will host the Country Day Cajuns (7-1).

The two teams sit at the top of their district, which also includes St. Charles Catholic and West St. John, and both are angling to keep control of the group until season’s end. Country Day is coming off of its first loss of the season versus Newman, 40-14, a team Riverside beat 41-14 only weeks before.

While Riverside Academy head coach Bill Stubbs said he is aware of the Country Day’s loss to Newman, he is not putting a win Friday in the bank.

“I don’t ever really pay much attention to who we are playing,” Stubbs said. “I think people get caught up in that competitive shopping. You kind of get yourself into trouble real fast. They are 7-1, and they are 7-1 for a reason.”

Last week, the Rebels put away another one-loss team in St. Charles Catholic, who they beat 35-3. Stubbs said his team’s goal has not changed since the beginning of the season, no matter who they are playing.

“We are feeling pretty good about where we are sitting but we are certainly not looking backwards or patting each other on the shoulder,” Stubbs said. “I think our mission over the next couple of weeks doesn’t change over any of the previous weeks. What we always have to ask ourselves after each game is — have we gotten better?”

Holding St. Charles Catholic, which scored over 40 points in four games, to only three points was a big win in itself. Stubbs said he believes his team can build off of that defensive performance heading into the last two games and a postseason run.

Stubbs said the Rebels’ defensive unit is a special group.

“Every so often you will get a group playing like this who enjoy playing with each other and playing off of emotion and playing off of each other,” Stubbs said. “They are doing that and doing it at a high level. They have been coached very, very well and are going out there doing it the way it is supposed to be done and the way it is coached. They are putting their own spin to it in terms of how we want to be perceived. They are an extremely tough, aggressive hard-nosed defensive squad.”

For Country Day, Stubbs said he thinks the team will present a challenge.

“You want good teams, you want teams with a good record and to be playing those type of teams here towards the end of the season,” Stubbs said. “Just from that perspective it is a really nice challenge for us. We are looking forward to them coming to our place and playing us.”