Central Starts District 4-5A Play with Arrival of Arch-Rival Zachary Friday

by Woody Jenkins

CENTRAL — Wednesday night’s Central junior varsity game at Wildcat Stadium left Central coaches buzzing about the outlook for the future with the remarkable talent they see among freshmen, sophomores, and juniors this year.

The JV game was in stark contract to the varsity’s loss against St. Amant (35-14) last Friday night at home.

Central head coach Doug Dotson said it was the Wildcats’ poorest performance of the season.  Central (2-3) is actually much better than its record would indicate because of the high caliber teams it has played.

Now Coach Dotson and the Wildcats face the start of the real season.  “Right now, as we begin district play this Friday night against Zachary, everybody is 0-0 for the season.  It’s a fresh start and our goal remains to win another District Championship.”

That will be a tall order when the Zachary Broncos (4-1) arrive at Wildcat Stadium for Friday’s kickoff at 7 p.m.  It’s the best Zachary team in years.

“Every game is a must-win now,” Dotson said Wednesday.  “Our kids are working very hard, and so are our coaches.  We’ve had a great week in practice.  Zachary is a good football team, well coached, and loaded with talent.  On paper, this game will be all-Zachary, but fortunately, it won’t be played on paper but rather in Wildcat Stadium.  Our men are not intimidated by Zachary.”

“Zachary has a very solid scheme.  They are especially solid on defense.  But against Dutchtown, they gave up big plays.  We have to be able to do that also, in order to win.”

“We have no bigger rival than Zachary, and we need our fans to be out at Wildcat Stadium to give us some help.  Your support could be the difference between victory and defeat.”

Dotson praised last week’s performance by defensive linemen Zach Hetrick and Joey Jarreau.

He also spoke highly of Gary Triplet and his 56-yard TD.  Gary has become an explosive threat who can change a game on a moments’ notice.

Dotson said Dalton Holdman’s surgery went well Monday.