EDGARD — The West St. John High School Rams (3-6) are making the trek to New Orleans Thursday to take on the Newman High School Greenies (6-2) for their last regular game of the season.

West St. John head football coach Brandon Walters said the Rams haven’t played as well this season as many of the players are used to, but they are improving.

The Greenies have only lost two games this season, both against St. John the Baptist Parish schools — Riverside Academy and St. Charles Catholic, respectively.

WSJ was defeated by SCC last week, but maintained leadership of the scoreboard during the first half of the game.

“The game kind of got away from us,” Walters said. “The plays we were making in the first half, we just didn’t make in the second half. We had some execution issues and a few missed cues by the quarterback. We had some dropped balls by some of the receivers. Our old problems that haunted us in past games came back to hurt us in the second half.”

Walters said the Rams are determined to not let that happen again this week.

“This week against Newman we have to reinforce to our guys that we have to play all four quarters,” Walters said. “We are good enough to play with anybody, but we have to have four quarters of football that are consistent. We have to have mistake-free football to be successful. If we can’t do that, then we are going to continue to struggle. We have to sustain drives and score when we have the opportunity in the red zone.”

Walters said Newman will make a tough competitor, as the Greenies offense will serve as a challenge.

“Newman has several guys on their team offensively that they like to give the ball to,” Walters said. “(Senior wide receiver Elbert Thomas) No.13, (junior wide receiver Christopher Lane) No.24 and (junior wide receiver Brain McGowan) No.  25 and their quarterback (junior Miles Lapeyre, No. 14) are really good. They spread them out. They like to throw the ball a lot.”

Newman uses quick, short passes to move the ball.

“We definitely have to bring our A game when it comes to coverages and put some pressure on the quarterback and make it difficult for him to see what he wants to see,” Walters said.

Walters said he is hoping to win because his team is ready to go to the playoffs.

“From what our coaches are saying, if we win this week, playoffs are on the table,” Walters said. “I haven’t been paying too much attention to it, but I have a couple guys keeping track, and they said that we still have an opportunity to make it to the playoffs. The kids are aware of it. We want to go into the playoffs running, not sneak into there after a loss. We want to get there on a positive note, on a win.”

By Courtney Griggs