With cancellations because of Hurricane Gustav the rule this week, six Teche Area schools canceled games that were scheduled for the first week of the season.
Five local schools tried hard to get in games even with the problems caused by the hurricane, and three succeeded in scheduling their contests.
 Catholic High receiver Thomas Theriot (4) is brought down by Delcambre’s Duston LeBlanc (51) during the Iberia Parish Sugar Cane Jamboree last Friday. CHS and Delcambre are two of the three teams in the Teche Area that will get their scheduled games in this week to open the regular season. Delcambre plays host to False River Academy on Saturday and CHS plays at Jeanerette on Monday. All other area games have been canceled. - Lee Ball / The Daily Iberian Advertisement
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On Saturday, Delcambre High will start the 2008 regular season against False River starting at 2 p.m. Catholic High will travel to Jeanerette for a 6 p.m. contest Monday.
Loreauville’s scheduled game at Berwick was officially canceled Thursday as was Franklin’s game at Central Catholic. Morgan City has been without electrical power or water services since the storm.
“It was Central Catholic’s home game and they had trouble getting their players home,” said FSH coach Zeb Simon. “Most of them evacuated before the storm landed and there are still problems in the city after the hurricane hit.”
Franklin will open the season Thursday at St. Martinville Senior High.
LHS coach Trent Delahoussaye said that several factors went into the decision not to play Berwick on Sunday.
“Yesterday afternoon we were practicing for the game, and I had like 15 kids show up,” said Delahoussaye. “I thought all Loreauville had electricity, and I found out about half my kids didn’t. I called (Berwick coach Mike Thomas) and said we couldn’t do it.”
Delahoussaye also said that his team only had three days to prepare for the game, and playing on Sunday and going back to practice Monday didn’t give his coaches and players enough time to prepare for its next opponent.
“I just didn’t feel good about it,” said Delahoussaye.
Loreauville is scheduled to play host to Central Catholic next Friday.
According to Catholic High coach Craig Brodie, the Panthers’ game at Jeanerette will be played Monday.
That means a quick turnaround for both teams as CHS is scheduled to travel to Teurlings Catholic on Friday, Sept. 12, and Jeanerette is supposed to play at West St. Mary the same day.
For Delcambre coach Darcy Delcambre, plans for his game just fell into place.
“Neither one of us wanted to lose another game and have an eight-game schedule,” said Delcambre. Both teams were scheduled to play Acadiana Prep this year, but that school decided to drop out of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, depriving each school of one game this year. “That could affect our chances for the playoffs.”
According to Delcambre, the game was set for 2 p.m. because Pointe Coupee Parish is still under a curfew and False River coach Todd Scott didn’t want to run the risk of his team coming back to New Roads after curfew.
While both coaches wanted to play the game, it took some effort on both sides to make things happen.
“I never really talked to Coach Scott personally,” said Delcambre. “I contacted an assistant coach and he contacted the head coach. Apparently, Coach Scott was having problems with his phone.”
Delcambre thinks that playing the game will turn out to be a good thing.
“I glad that we’re playing and I think the kids are glad too,” said Delcambre. “It will get them away from the drudgery of dealing with the hurricane day after day.
“Besides, I told them that this may be the only time in their lives they get to play on Saturday like they do in college.”
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