By Warren Arceneaux, American Press
Oberlin ruled District 4-1A last season, going undefeated in league play as part of its perfect regular season.
This week the Tigers (1-1, 1-0) will have a showdown for control of the title race when it plays Grand Lake Thursday night in Jennings.
The Hornets (3-0, 2-0) opened district play in style, beating Basile 21-20 with a touchdown pass from Levi Murrell to Kyler Little with 3 seconds left in the game.
Hornets head coach Jeff Wainwright said he’s happy just to be playing after the damage in Cameron Parish caused by Hurricanes Laura and Delta.
“Every coach talks about overcoming adversity,” Wainwright said. “Right now our whole community is the model for that, getting us to Friday nights and giving us a chance to play despite the hurricanes and COVID.
“It is a joy to get to work with and coach our kids. We lost a couple of kids that had to move out after their homes were destroyed. We hope to get them back. We have kids playing a lot of different positions and are still trying to correct things that normally we would have fixed in fall camp.
“Our biggest goal is to get the team into the playoffs and have a chance to make a run. The parents have sacrificed a ton to give these kids a chance to play. It has been a tremendous effort from our community.”
Eli Fountain has sparked the Hornets on both sides of the ball, intercepting two passes in the season opener and producing more than 100 yards both passing and rushing while accounting for four total touchdowns.
“Eli is a versatile athlete,” Wainwright said. “He could be one of our running backs or receivers. We have him at quarterback and he does kick returns and plays safety. We have him in a lot of different things in his first full year of varsity. His heart is good and his mind is pure. It has been fun working with him in practice and watching him in games.”
Little had two touchdown receptions in the final 5 minutes of last week’s comeback win.
The Tigers have a new look with four starters back from last year’s team, which won its first 12 games of the season before losing to White Castle in the semifinal round of the state playoffs. Oberlin opened the season with a narrow loss to Allen Parish rival Oakdale before beating Hamilton Christian 34-7 last week.
“They have a lot of team speed again,” Wainwright said of Oberlin. “Every year they reload at the skill positions. They do a good job in their offense with misdirection and running speed sweeps. Coach (Durrell) Peloquin always has good defenses that are fundamentally sound. He runs a great program. It is a measuring stick for us; we realize they are a very good football team.”
Aiden Reed leads the Tigers with 116 yards rushing. Jackson Chaisson threw for 95 and two touchdowns last week.