Louisiana-Alabama all-star football game in works
Dutchtown coach Benny Saia: 'With that said, there are still challenges out there. Last year, we got caught in the trap of thinking every was OK, and Woodlawn outplayed us and should have beat us. We need to approach every game with intensity and focus.'
If you’re a fan of the LSU vs. Alabama rivalry, Louisiana’s high school football coaches might have just the thing for you starting in 2013.
Louisiana’s football coaches are set to team up with Alabama for a high school football all-star game that would be played the week after Louisiana’s state finals. Montgomery, Ala., is set to be site of the game for the first two years of a three-year plan. Alabama-based Russell Athletics is among the sponsors.
Louisiana High School Athletic Association assistant executive director B.J. Guzzardo said the game will be a three-way cooperative effort. It has been sanctioned by the LHSAA and Louisiana High School Coaches Association and will be sponsored by the Louisiana Football Coaches Association.
Guzzardo and area coaches who were part of a planning meeting said Louisiana’s other multi-state all-star game, the June-based Bayou Bowl played in Baytown, Texas, also will continue.
“Obviously, the people in Alabama see the chance to capitalize on the LSU-Alabama rivalry,” Dutchtown coach Benny Saia said. “What I think you’ll have is two all-star games at different times that utilize different players.
“The Alabama-Louisiana game would be one where both states try to get their elite players. The Bayou Bowl is held in June when those guys are already off to college. The key will be convincing the top players in both states to play in this game and not the Under Armour Bowl or U.S. Army Bowl.”
Though the game will be played on the same weekend as several regionally-based all-star games, including Baton Rouge’s Red Stick Bowl, the coaches see the same benefits, noting that the top players normally don’t play in local all-star games.
“I know we’re to the point where we’re almost saturated with all-star games,” Lutcher coach Tim Detillier said. “This gives us a chance to have something that can be special without losing what we already have.”
It’s jersey week
Three local/area athletes will receive jerseys representing their selection to play in national football events.
The area’s top two senior recruits, East Feliciana’s Kendell Beckwith and University’s Tim Williams, have accepted invitations to play in the Florida-based Under Armour Bowl.
Williams is tentatively set to receive his jersey at 3 p.m. Wednesday, said UHS coach Chad Mahaffey. Beckwith will receive his jersey at 9 a.m. Thursday, said EFHS coach Cedric Anderson.
Meanwhile, University eighth-grader Dylan Moses will receive a jersey to commemorate his selection to play in the EastBay Youth All-American Bowl for the USA under-15 team at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the UHS football field
Moses already has a scholarship offer from LSU.
Living4Burke updates
Zachary High’s fundraiser for the Living4Burke Foundation netted $4,300, said ZHS assistant principal Joe LeBlanc.
The Broncos designated their game last month with Dutchtown as a benefit for the foundation formed in honor of Burke Cobb, the Dutchtown ninth-grader-to-be who died from a previously undiagnosed heart ailment following a summer workout.
On Saturday, Living4Burke reached one of its goals by providing comprehensive heart screenings for all Dutchtown athletes. The screenings held at the school consisted of several tests, including echocardiograms.
Silliman takes second
The Silliman Institute softball team lost two extra-inning games to overall Class 2A state champion Leake Academy, of Madden, Miss., at the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools rain-delayed Overall Fastpitch Tournament that concluded early Thursday at Liberty Park in Flowood, Miss.
The Wildcats finished 43-4 and are the 2A runner-up for the second time in three years. Sillman beat Canton Academy, 2-0, to open Wednesday’s action before losing to Leake, 5-2,
in extra innings in the semifinals.
Silliman then beat Canton, 8-1, and Leake, 3-0, to force a winner-take-all final that began 1:35 a.m. Thursday. The Wildcats raced out to a 3-0 lead, only to see Leake rally for a 4-3 victory in extra innings.
Pitcher Kayla Davidson (34-4) was 4-2 in the tournament
for Silliman Institute and also led the Wildcats in hitting with a .556 average. Callie Venable (.533), Taylor LeBlanc (.350) and Mary Morris (.333) were other offensive leaders. Davidson, LeBlanc, Venable and Morris all made the all-tournament team.