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Starting in tonight’s jamborees, high school coaches, players, and fans will have to get used to playing with the new 40-second play clock.
In conjunction with the National Federation of High Schools, the LHSAA has adopted a 40-second play clock; like the ones used in college and the pros, in place of the traditional 25-second clock.
Surrounding states are also adopting the new 40-second clock.
Before, the clock stopped until an official spotted the ball following an offensive play.
Now, the 40-second clock restarts as soon as the play is whistled dead.
“That will let us run more plays,” said VC head coach Kevin Fouquier.
When an official raises his arms straight up, indicating that the ball is dead and signals for the 40-second clock to start, the clock operator will immediately start the clock unless something else occurs that requires the 25-second play clock to reset.
Thursday night’s jamborees will be a good test for area coaches on how the new clock system works.
“We will find out Thursday night,” said NV head coach Brett Blakey. “I think it will speed up the game a lot. “
Blakey noted, with the old 25-second clock, the referee goes to get the ball, spots the ball, checks the first down markers and then starts the 25-second clock. That is taking about 40 to 60 seconds to do all that.
“Now we don’t have to wait until the ball is spotted,” said Blakey. “Now we won’t have to wait for the referee to step away from the ball.”
Kaplan head coach Stephen Lotief said they came up with 40 seconds because that is the average time it takes to set the ball after a tackle. Lotief is worried the 40-second clock will extend the game.
“I went to a meeting, me and two other coaches agreed that the 40-second clock is not going to make the game faster,” said Lotief.
He predicts the extra time will allow more plays to be run in a game extending the game.

CROWLEY — Farmers probably would like to forget the 2019 rice crop, which has been plagued by low yields.
Bad weather from the start of the growing season through harvest is being blamed.
“Growing conditions have been less than ideal,” said LSU AgCenter rice specialist Dustin Harrell. “We didn’t have good conditions at any one point.”
Harrell estimated yields are off by 15% to 20% from the average harvest.
Yields range from the mid-20 barrel to the mid 60-barrel range, but much of it is between 35 and 43 barrels. “Most of it is below 45,” he said.
The second crop isn’t providing much hope.
“The second crop hasn’t come back as quickly as we thought,” Harrell said. “We’re getting off to a bad start.”
Cloudy days have interfered with sunshine new growth needs.
The crop year started with wet, cool soil conditions, and wet soil complicated applications of herbicides and fertilizer. “Getting fertilizer applied in time and on dry ground is critical to maximize yields,” Harrell said.
Andrew Granger, AgCenter agent in Vermilion Parish, said wet conditions also interfered with herbicide applications.
Low rice prices, currently about $18 a barrel, are also a problem for farmers. “If rice was $25 a barrel, they would be OK,” Granger said.
Hurricane Barry hit in early July, the same time that most rice plants were flowering for pollination. Winds beat up the young plants and caused many of the panicles to have empty hulls. But at least the forecasts of more than 20 inches of rain never developed, Harrell said.
Farmer Christian Richard, of Indian Bayou, said the first part of the harvest was bad with low yields, but yields improved in later-planted fields. “Then the weather quit cooperating, and it started raining every day,” he said.
Richard estimates his yields are down by 15% to 20% from his average.
Richard said he had a truckload of rice rejected by a buyer because of smut, adding that false smut and kernel smut are widespread in his fields. “Our combines are black or yellow, depending on what kind of smut you’ve got,” he said.
Richard said grain quality has been a problem with his crop. “The quality was never good from the beginning. The milling yields are just horrendous,” he said.
Richard is about 70% finished, but he’s trying to locate a set of tracks for a combine to harvest 500 acres of rice in a muddy field that he couldn’t prepare properly earlier this year because the ground never got dry enough to work.
Regrowth on his second-crop fields has been slow, he said.
Rains have continued into harvest, complicating the process. “The harvest has been stop-and-go every day,” Harrell said.
Some rice in Vermilion Parish was a total loss due to flooding after Barry, Granger said, and Vince Deshotel, AgCenter agent in St. Landry Parish, said some rice acreage was ruined by high water.
Excessive heat during night and day in June, combined with continuous rain, especially at flowering, reduced yields by about 10%, Deshotel said.
Later, steady rains kept fields wet and humid. AgCenter plant pathologist Don Groth said the field conditions created the perfect environment for disease.
Fields that normally yield 45 to 55 barrels are only producing in the low 30-barrel range.
Groth said Richard’s problem with smut is not isolated. Smuts and other diseases are being reported throughout the area. Panicle blight and blast disease also have been problems, he said.
Smut spores have produced visible brownish-yellow clouds. “I’ve gotten reports from Texas that they’re having the same problem,” Groth said.
He estimates the harvest throughout south Louisiana is about 70% complete.
Jeremy Hebert, AgCenter agent in Acadia Parish, said many farmers are disappointed this year. “Yields are down more than expected. There have been some disasters,” he said.
Farmers were facing an uphill struggle from the beginning of the growing season.
Some later-planted rice appears to have more potential, and some of rice grown for a second crop looks good, Hebert said.
Jimmy Meaux, AgCenter agent in Jefferson Davis, Calcasieu and Cameron parishes, said about 70% of the fields there have been harvested.
Yields are down by 10% to 15%. “It’s not great. They’re probably in the low 40s or the high 30s,” he said.
Daily rains during harvest are a problem for farmers. “I don’t know if they ever get a full day of cutting,” Meaux said.
Farmer Mike Fruge, of Eunice, said he wrapped up his harvest on Aug. 19. He said his yields were off consistently. Some fields were down from his average by as much as 20% while some were down by only a few percentage points. “It wasn’t as bad as some others I’ve heard,” he said.
He also had a smut problem in the last 400 acres he harvested. But weather complicated harvest. “Our last 200 acres took us double the time it should have taken,” Fruge said.
Rice harvest in northeast Louisiana is about to get started, and Harrell said that crop looks better. “It looks good in northeast Louisiana,” he said. “They don’t seem to have all the issues we had here.”
Keith Collins, AgCenter agent in Richland Parish, said fields are being drained in northeast Louisiana and harvest should be in full swing within two weeks.

On Aug. 27, investigators with the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office recovered a body believed to be that of a woman reported missing in St. Landry Parish in May 2014.
The body, preliminarily identified as that of Tyler Domingue, was recovered from Coulee Kinney after Sheriff’s detectives and the District Attorney’s Office developed information into her last known location.
A forensic examination of the remains and review of other possible evidence by Louisiana Forensics, the Acadiana Crime Lab and the LSU F.A.C.E.S. Lab will be necessary to confirm the preliminary identification.
Law Enforcement Officials believe the disappearance and death of Domingue may be related to other crimes.
The investigation remains ongoing and additional arrests may be forthcoming.

As the kickoff to the regular season approaches, you would be hard-pressed to find a coach who is thinking about what his football team is going to look like in November.
That’s because every coach is working hard to find out what his team is right now.
Coaches from Vermilion Parish shared some of that insight Tuesday during the traditional preseason meeting with the Kiwanis Club of Abbeville. 
Kaplan Pirates head coach Stephen Lotief walked away with the annual Crying Towel Award. It’s Lotief’s Pirates who have left many opponents in tears during the last few years. Kaplan has reached the Class 3A semifinals in each of the last three seasons.
“We’ve been successful over there at Kaplan,” Lotief said. “They say that all good things must come to an end. We’ll see. We have some work to do, but we’re going to battle.
“We’ll do our best. That’s what I can tell you.”
One of the teams Kaplan will face is the Vermilion Catholic Eagles. Head coach Kevin Fouquier that facing Kaplan is just one aspect of a tremendous challenge VC faces to start the season. The Eagles will open with Catholic High of New Iberia, Opelousas Catholic, the Abbeville Wildcats, Pirates and the Erath Bobcats. 
“Everybody thinks I’m crazy because of the beginning of our schedule,” Fouquier said. “It is extremely tough.”
It will be the first time the Eagles and Wildcats will face one another during the regular season. 
Abbeville head coach Kevin Kern said when the Wildcats face VC, or anyone on their schedule for that matter, there will be a different look from the Wildcats.
“We’ve got 50 kids strong,” Kern said. “We’re going to run a wide-open type offense. The kids are having fun. We scrimmaged Ascension Episcopal last week. We did fairly well and had quite a few big plays.”
Big is a keyword for North Vermilion, as in the Patriots are seeing the effects of being a bigger school. This year will mark NV’s jump to Class 4A. Head coach Brett Blakey said that presents its challenges.
“We’re in a transition period,” Blakey said. “We played Cecilia in a scrimmage last week and were greeted to 4A. 
“Things are looking up for North Vermilion.”
That includes the school’s future enrollment.
“We’re growing,” Blakey said. “Right now, we have 720 kids. On the first day of school next year, they’re telling us we’re going to have 820. The following year they are telling us they are going to have 920. 
“We might be 5A before you know it, playing Acadiana and those guys.”
Erath High is not only one of the top schools in Acadiana, but the state. Head coach Eric LeBlanc knows what kind of kid he is getting on his team.
“They bring a lot of enthusiasm and effort to practice,” LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc said some graduated players would have to be replaced.
“We will find some young guys to step up,” LeBlanc said.
Gueydan Bears head coach Roderick Moy said he and his staff would be looking for some young players to step up. That is somewhat out of necessity, as the Bears only have 25 players on the roster.
“I talked to a coach who had 25 kids quit since the spring,” Moy said. “They did not come to us, because we only have 25. Two of those 25 kids are going to be a freshman center and a freshman quarterback. 
“We’re going to do what we do. We’re going to do the best we can and end the season with those same 25 kids.”