By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL, Journal Sports
There’s a lot to like about tonight’s Evangel-Captain Shreve playoff game at Lee Hedges Stadium in the Select Division 1 playoffs.
It’s the only game in town, so that should help boost attendance.
It’s two local schools, so the convenience of not having to travel should also make for a good crowd and amp up the energy level.
The teams feature the leading rusher in Caddo-Bossier in Jamarcea Plater (Shreve) and the leading passer in Peyton “Pop” Houston (Evangel). In fact, Houston leads the state and Plater is second in his category.
And, of course, it’s a rematch of the most exciting local game of the regular season, Shreve’s 77-76 win over Evangel on Oct. 10.
Uh-oh.
There’s that word: “rematch.” Everything was going great until that word got put into the equation.
Shreve coach Jeremy Wilburn isn’t a big fan of playing a team in the playoffs that he’s already seen before.
“There’s some good and bad with it, but I don’t like playing a team twice in a year,” Wilburn said. “But there is some familiarity with it. Maybe in the playoffs that familiarity makes you a little more comfortable with it.”
Evangel coach Denny Duron has a slightly different opinion.
“It’s often been said that it’s tough to beat somebody twice in the same year, but I don’t necessarily agree with that,” he said. “I think the more familiar you are with each other, the better both teams are prepared.”
And therein lies the problem, at least as far as Wilburn is concerned.
“I think we game plan as much as anybody at our level,” Wilburn said. “I think a short week plays against us a little bit as opposed to some staffs who keep the same general stuff every week.”
It’s 13 miles from Evangel to Lee Hedges Stadium – which is about 13 steps from the Shreve campus – and Wilburn was hoping that the playoff bracket might provide an opponent for his team that was more like 213 miles away.
“You kind of get excited when you are going to host a (playoff) game and that maybe you’ll get a team that has to travel a long way, like we had to do when we went to Destrehan (on Oct. 18),” he said. “That day wears on you and you hope you get that advantage. But we didn’t get that. But our kids know a lot of their kids, so there will be a lot of excitement.”
And certainly a lot of offense with Houston and Player leading two of the state’s high-scoring offenses. Evangel has averaged 52 points in its last three games and will come into the game with a 5-5 record. The Eagles have won four straight games, including knocking off District 1-5A runnerup Parkway last Friday on a last-play field goal to clinch its 34th straight playoff appearance.
Shreve is 6-4 and has averaged 44.5 points in its four losses. Shreve is coming off a win over rival Byrd in the regular season finale a week ago.
The Gators are the No. 15 seed and the Eagles are No. 18. The winner will travel to play second-seeded Alexandria Senior High (10-0) next week.
“I think both teams are playing their best football of the year right now, so this will be a great one to watch,” Duron said. “It all comes down to who makes plays when they have opportunities. Shreve is an amazingly balanced, well-coached and disciplined team. It all comes down to who makes plays when they have opportunities.”
“It’s going to be a big game,” Plater said. “It’s going to be real physical because both of us want it bad.”
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com