RESERVE — The Rebels travel to Southern Lab Friday, where they will find a “super athletic team,” according to RA coach Kevin Dizer.

“They’ve got maybe eight Division I players in their senior class,” Dizer said. “I’m pretty sure they’ll be fired up and looking to avenge that loss from last year. At any given point, they’ve got three or four guys who can touch the football and take it the distance. We’re going to counter that with discipline. We’ll have to try to negate the big play and keep the game as short as possible.”

Dizer is stressing to his players to disregard the 54-0 victory the Rebels enjoyed last year, noting many of the upperclassmen who contributed to the 2017 win are not with the team in 2018.

What Dizer and his staff do have is a talented group that defeated South Lafourche 28-21 in jamboree action last week.

The Rebels were down early but came back after the half to completely take over the game.

“I saw that we can really be explosive on both sides of the ball,” Dizer said. “I just want to see the same fight in our guys that I’ve been seeing through camp and through the jamboree. We’re looking at finding a way to win any way possible.”

Defensively, the Rebels are looking to clean their front seven play. On offense, coaches want stronger pass protection.

New quarterback Gage Larvadain led Riverside to a team total of 271 yards of offense (181 passing, 90 rushing) during the jamboree.

“Gage is a really smart guy, so he knows how to play the game,” Dizer said. “He gets rid of the ball really quick and knows how to protect himself. The whole line has to do a good job of protecting him as well.”