By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL, Journal Sports
The result of last year’s Calvary jamboree? Don’t bother asking head coach Rodney Guin.
The score of Parkway’s jamboree against Benton? No clue, says head coach Coy Brotherton. “What I do know we won the jamboree game (against Benton) and lost to them in the regular season,” he said.
Remember, coaches are wired to remember every missed block on a trap play in the third quarter. They never seem to forget when a defensive back played Cover 1 while everyone else played Cover 2 in a blowout win.
But a jamboree is a different animal.
It’s a faux game. The lights come on, the new uniforms come out and there’s simply no telling when it might end.
But as soon as it does, that’s it. Next!
“We don’t work a bunch on the jamboree,” Guin says. “To be honest, we are already working for Week 1.”
There are, however, those subtle story lines that add a little spice to jamborees. You can start with tonight, when storied rivals Byrd and Captain Shreve will tee it up at Lee Hedges Stadium to open jamboree season. Because they play again in Week 7, this might be a “battle” to find out which team can show the other one the least.
Across the Red River at Airline, the Bossier Lions Jamboree has a Junior Homecoming feel to it – Jamboree Queens, dance line performances and even a little football thrown in there as well.
Once again, Parkway vs. Airline will offer another example of two teams who will play for real six weeks from now.
“The best thing is that we all like competition and want to play a game,” Brotherton said. “But the worst thing is that we play somebody we will face in the regular season. So nobody is going to show a lot.”
At least that one kicks off at 5:45 p.m.; if you draw the late matchup in the Bossier Jamboree, keep a sleeping bag nearby. It’s one of the few football events in which TV people can have a live shot for the 6 o’clock and the 10 o’clock news.
Bossier and Plain Dealing are “scheduled” to play at 7:15 and Benton and Haughton at 8:45. If history holds, don’t count on it.
Jamborees in Caddo Parish change year-to-year. Gone are the days in which six or so teams would alternate quarters against a different opponent. (You never wanted to be that team that had to play first and last.)
Now, many of them are just two teams that play sub-varsity and varsity “games.”
Friday night, Calvary plays host to Union Parish at Jerry Barker Stadium, with the middle school playing at 6 p.m., junior varsity at 7 and varsity at 8. “It’s a long night, but it’s a good night,” Guin said. “Every kid gets to play.”
Teams have been through controlled scrimmages, so the benefit of the jamborees is that it more closely simulates a game.
“What a jamboree means is that I want to see all of our special teams go live,” Guin said. “That’s the most important thing to me. We don’t want to see any injuries and we want to see live special teams. That’s the whole key for us.”
“There’s a lot of things that kids get to experience in a game that doesn’t matter,” Brotherton said. “They get their feet wet under the bright lights.”
The Parkway coach said his starting spots are set, so no one is going to make a quick jump on the depth chart based on a jamboree performance. “But there are some rotational guys who might be some more playing time,” he said.
Still, Guin has been around enough to know that though it might not count on the scoreboard, but there can still be a benefit.
“We keep things close to the vest in the jamboree,” Guin said. “I was at Haughton for 16 years and I think we won the jamboree three times. But we are going to try to win because they are in our district and I’d like to get that edge on them.”
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com
Tonight
Caddo Parish
At Lee Hedges Stadium
Byrd vs. Captain Shreve, 5 p.m. (freshman, JV, varsity)
At Sanders Prudhomme Stadium – North Caddo
Green Oaks vs. North Caddo, 7 p.m.
At Jerry Burton Stadium – Northwood
Huntington vs. Northwood, 6 p.m. (freshman, JV, varsity)
Friday
Caddo Parish
At Leonard Barnes Stadium – BTW
Booker T. Washington vs Woodlawn, 6 p.m.
Woodlawn vs. Southwood
Southwood vs. Booker T. Washington
Bossier Parish
At Airline
Bossier Lions Club
Parkway vs. Airline, 5:45 p.m.
Plain Dealing vs. Bossier, 7:15 p.m.
Haughton vs. Benton, 8:45 p.m.
Loyola at Glenbrook (Minden)
Magnolia Charter vs. Block at Delhi Charter
Union Parish at Calvary, Jerry Barker Stadium
Bayou Jamb
Malone Stadium, ULM
Natchitoches Central vs. Ouachita, 8 p.m.
Saturday
Bayou Jamb
Malone Stadium, ULM
Evangel vs. West Monroe, 8 p.m.