Patterson defense shuts out St. James

Patterson High School football coach Chad Blanchard talked after the Louisiana High School Officials Association Clinic about how his squad’s younger players were able to get some real game-time experience in the short scrimmage.
On Thursday afternoon, the young squad faced a different kind of adversity as rain in Patterson all day forced Patterson to pack up and head to St. James for its preseason scrimmage instead of hosting the Wildcats.
Blanchard said he told his team 30 minutes prior to their departure that they were hitting the road and said he told his team they could use it to respond to some adversity.
“I thought we responded well,” he said.
Patterson scored twice — once each on the first- and second-teams — and its defense pitched a shutout in the scrimmage.
Despite the offensive success, the Lumberjacks could have had more in the scrimmage as Patterson went on an 18-play drive that stalled at the 2-yard line to start the scrimmage.
While Patterson scored on its second series, when John Davis caught a pass from Sirbatian Charles and converted it into a 25-yard touchdown reception, later, Patterson had another solid drive with its first team but couldn’t punch the ball in.
Blanchard said that the inability to finish is just part of the “growing pains,” but they have to get better offensively.
“We got to be able to finish drives,” Blanchard said. “We did a good job of converting on third- and fourth-down situations, but then we just got to finish and get in the end zone because obviously, that’s what it’s all about.”
Defensively, Blanchard said his team played well.
“We gave a little bit of yards here and there, but then we came back and made big plays that kept us in (a) good situation,” Blanchard said.
In second-team action, Patterson scored on a long touchdown pass from Dillan Giandelone to B.J. Ramagos.
“I thought the two’s moved the ball real well, and the second-team on defense really played good too,” Blanchard said.
Blanchard noted that St. James was without a few players Thursday, including its starting quarterback, due to injury.
Still, he agreed Patterson got good work and noted St. James had good athletes.
“They’re going to give people a lot of trouble in 2A this year and next because a lot of those guys are juniors and still young,” Blanchard said.
The Patterson coach said his squad was able to benefit from the scrimmage.
“It was great competition,” he said. “It was a physical scrimmage. They had a lot of good athletes running around on the field, too.”
Blanchard also was able to see improvement from last week’s official’s clinic to Thursday’s action, especially on defense.
“We opened up the game plan a little bit more, tried to do a little bit more things, and I thought we really did respond well,” he said.
Patterson will return to action Friday when it participates in the Morgan City High School Jamboree. The Lumberjacks will face Morgan City at 8 p.m. at Tiger Stadium.