By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL, Journal Sports
It’s Thanksgiving Week, and with that come a few certainties: people will eat too much, people will shop too much and here come the Christmas decorations out of storage.
And when it comes to the high school football playoffs, there is another certainty. After the game tonight, there are going to be coaches of really good teams who have to give the turn-in-your-equipment-on-Monday speech.
Airline coach Justin Scogin is trying to avoid that awkward discussion. The Vikings are the No. 4 seed in Non-Select Division I playoffs and will be at home tonight when the quarterfinals get cranked up.
The Vikings (10-1) take on 21st-seeded Mandeville (8-4) at 7 o’clock at Airline Stadium.
There are plenty of other coaches across the state who have already given the equipment speech. With only eight teams remaining in each division, Thanksgiving week becomes even more special for those who aren’t yet worried about whether the shoulder pads are going to fit in the storage room.
“Thanksgiving week is kind of an anomaly,” Scogin said. “It’s different than anything else than you’ve done all year. “The mystique is that if you are practicing on Thanksgiving, you have a good program. So that adds to the atmosphere this week. Sometimes you worry when school is going on about kids showing up. But everybody wants to practice this week.”
Airline is playing for a spot in the semifinals for the first time since reaching the state finals in 1972 and will have to do against a Mandeville team than stunned fifth-seeded St. Amant 42-21 in the second round.
The Skippers play a spread offense featuring junior running back Nate Sheppard, who rushed 25 times for 328 yards and three touchdowns in an opening round win over Sam Houston and followed it up with 105 yards and three touchdowns a week ago.
Quarterback Ben Hendricks threw for 208 yards, completing just 9 of 13 passes, in the second round.
“The running back is really good,” Scogin said. “He’s an explosive back. He’s dynamic because he can also line up at receiver and they will throw him routes. But they aren’t afraid to run the quarterback either.”
The Skippers play a defense that is a little more conventional than what Airline saw from Southside did last week.
“Last week we had no idea where they were going to line up,” Scogin said. “We should have a better idea this week. It’s a little more traditional.”
The Skippers have certainly been stingy on defense this year with six games during the regular season of allowing only one touchdown or less. Airline has scored at least 33 points in every game this season.
Mandeville finished third in District 5-5A but only lost by three points to district champion St. Paul’s, the No. 7 seed in the Select division playoffs.
The Vikings are coming off an exciting 36-35 win over Southside that might have been less exciting had Airline had two game-altering turnovers.
“We’ve done a good job of limiting turnovers and being efficient until last week,” Scogin said. “It all goes back to the ability to run the ball, throw the ball, catch the ball, and make tackles. And that’s it.”
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com
No. 21 MANDEVILLE (8-4) at No. 4 AIRLINE (10-1)
Where: M.D. Ray Field at Airline
LHSAA playoff bracket: Non-Select Division I
Series: first meeting
Last week: Airline beat Southside, 36-35; Mandeville beat St. Amant 42-21
Rankings: Airline #3 in SBJ poll, #10 in LSWA 5A poll
Radio: none
Notables: Airline enters the game averaging 45.4 points a game, Mandeville 31.7. The Vikings allow 29.5 points a game and the Skippers 18.3. … Airline quarterback Ben Taylor passed for just more than 300 -yards for the 10th time in 11 games in last week’s win … WR Kenny Darby caught a touchdown pass from Taylor and Tre’Von Jackson … Jarvis Davis caught a touchdown pass and ran for one. His 2-point conversion run ended up being the difference when Southside was unable to convert on its onside kick following the final TD. … Mandeville defeated No. 12 Sam Houston 50-36 in the first round. The Skippers have been to the playoffs 26 times and has an overall record of 22-25. This is their sixth time to reach the quarterfinals. They have been to the semifinals three times … the last was in 2015.