Morgan City Tigers will meet Livonia Friday

The Morgan City High School football team entered this week doing something they haven’t done in the last 17 previous regular season chances: coming off a victory.
The Tigers come into this week after breaking a 17-game losing streak with a 48-12 win against West St. Mary last week.
The win was the Tigers’ first since September 2012 when the Tigers defeated Pearl River at home.
Morgan City head coach Scott Tregle said his team, although a little more excited in practice this week, was not a lot different, noting all along he has had players giving effort and good practices.
“It was about the same,” he said. “The kids are happy. We didn’t change anything. We’re doing the same thing we’ve been doing since we started. … They were a little more energetic, but it’s nothing out of the norm that they usually do. We (have) usually been having some pretty good practices.”
In addition to senior Kevon Marsh’s 118-yard effort and two touchdowns on the ground, the Tigers also got 20 carries for 103 yards from Jacolbi Francois in last week’s win.
“We’re trying to get him more involved in the game plan every week,” Tregle said.
Francois has 37 carries for 150 yards this season, while Marsh leads the Tigers with 41 carries for 320 yards and four scores.
The Tigers also got good performances from senior wide receiver Jaylen Jones and sophomore quarterback Hector Tolento. Jones caught four passes for 127 yards and two scores and returned a punt for a touchdown.
Tolento completed 3 of 4 passes for 99 yards and two scores.
On the season, Jones has caught seven passes for 179 yards and three scores and has rushed for another 147 yards on nine carries with two more touchdowns.
Tolento has completed 7 of 15 passes for 154 yards and three touchdowns.
As for this week’s opponent, Morgan City will face a Livonia squad that advanced to the Class 3A finals a year ago.
Tregle said Livonia, which beat Port Allen 46-22 a week ago, is a “good, solid program.”
This year’s the school merged with Pointe Coupee Central, bringing additional players into the fold for the Wildcats.
“They have some athletes to replace the one’s they lost with some experience,” Tregle noted of the merger.
While Tregle said the game would be a tough contest against the 2-0 Wildcats, he said his squad should be able to compete.
“Speed wise, we kind of matchup up a little bit,” he said. “They’re a little bigger up front, a little more size, but I think we can play with them. No doubt.”
Offensively, Livonia runs a spread attack spearheaded by quarterback Cee Jay Powell, running back Malcolm Dedrick and wide receiver Stephen Guidry.
Tregle said they are similar to Patterson in that the Wildcats utilize an H-back and a tight end occasionally.
He said Powell hurts other teams who have their eyes keenly on Dedrick.
Dedrick, who has offers from Southern Mississippi and Grambling, has rushed for 379 yards this season and seven scores.
Tregle said Guidry is both tall and big.
“When they throw the ball, they throw it to him,” he said.
Defensively, Tregle said Livonia basically runs the same scheme as the Tigers.
“(It’s a) 4-4 look,” he said. “They blitz the linebackers up the middle a lot and take away your inside running game, so we’re going to try to work the perimeters a little bit and get our athletes out in space on them and see what we can do with that.”
Tregle said Friday’s game will be a “White Out” in which fans are encouraged to wear white to the game.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.