Patriots glad to be playing on Thursday

LEROY — The North Vermilion Patriots are in the midst of the toughest part of their football schedule, a rugged five-game district slate that includes four teams that have been ranked in the top 10 in the latest Class 4A poll taken by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association and five teams in the top 16 of the select and non-select power rankings.
The Patriots (2-4 overall, 0-1 District 5-4A) are dealing with that gauntlet of games by focusing on themselves rather than fretting about the opposing team. North Vermilion travels to New Iberia tonight to take on 10th-ranked Westgate (4-2 overall, 0-1 district).
North Vermilion lost this past week at No. 1 St. Thomas More, 54-0. Westgate fell to No. 7 Teurlings 38-14.
“You don’t always like playing on Thursday, but after last week ,I think this is a good thing that we’re playing Thursday,” North Vermilion coach Joe Heintz. “We speed up the week a little bit and get back on the field as quickly as we can.”
STM, the defending Division II select state champion, is probably better than last year because the Cougars are solid across the board on defense, Heintz said
“To me, in my opinion, this is one of the best defenses they’ve had,” he said.
Outside of a couple of early pass plays in the first half that helped the Patriots flip the field, North Vermilion couldn’t sustain much offensively and never reached the end zone.
Tucker Denais (73 carries, 286 yards, 3 touchdowns) and Norris Benoit (23-239, 3 TDs) both rank in the top 10 in Vermilion Parish in rushing and lead the Patriots. Benoit also has a team-high 114 yards receiving with a touchdown on four catches. Owen LeBlanc adds three catches for 69 yards and a TD, with quarterback Logan Thompson throwing for 220 yards and three touchdowns in limited pass attempts (22 on the season).
Westgate will give the Patriots another set of obstacles to overcome.
“They’re big up front and they’re athletic in the skill positions,” Heintz said. “It’s another challenge for us.”
To counter that, Heintz said, North Vermilion must play well.
“We have to tackle well,” Heintz said. “Even though their quarterback is out with an injury (vs. Teurlings), they have kids in the skill positions that if we don’t tackle, it can be a long night. And we have to manufacture some first downs on offense and put the ball in the end zone at some point.”
North Vermilion will run its offense and try to get better at what it does, following the coach’s philosophy of continuing to improve throughout the season.
“And hopefully have a couple of wrinkles here and there that’ll maybe spring a big play and maybe a score,” Heintz said. “But really, right now we just have to get better up front at blocking and better on the perimeter as well at blocking, and sustaining blocks. We do a pretty good job of coming off of the line of scrimmage, but a lot of times we’re engaging and then we’re done. We’ve got to sustain our blocks.”