Game on.

Those two words seemed like years away earlier this week as three Teche Area teams were looking at another week of postponed or canceled games.

The Hanson Tigers, Jeanerette Tigers and Erath Bobcats were all still feeling the effects of Hurricane Ike on Monday as Hanson and Jeanerette played football games that night and Erath was looking for a place to play as flood waters from Ike covered the field at Robert Segura Stadium.

IV Roy and Ridge Gonsoulin of Catholic High School tackle Wendell Hunt of Jeanerette Senior High on Sept. 8. The Catholic High Panthers get back into action on Friday after a week off, while the Jeanerette Tigers, who played host to CHS in the opening week, return to action following a brief layoff after playing Monday in a game rescheduled because of Hurricane Ike. Jeanerette, which played its first two weeks on Monday nights because of hurricanes, plays host to Rayne on Friday. CHS, which had its game last week canceled, plays host to Eunice. - Lee Ball / The Daily Iberian Advertisement

Both Hanson, scheduled to play in Lake Charles against Hamilton Christian, and Jeanerette, scheduled to play at home against Rayne, appeared to have their games canceled, while Erath, scheduled to play host to E.D. White, was looking for a place to play, period.

But as the third week of the prep season looms, all three schools appear to be ready to play some football Friday night along with seven other Teche Area schools as some normalcy appears to be settling in after two weeks of dealing with Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

Rayne at Jeanerette

After Jeanerette broke a 15-game losing streak Monday with a 20-7 win over West St. Mary, head coach Terry Washington thought that his Tigers would have a week off after conversations with Rayne High School officials led to the cancellation of the scheduled contest.

Rayne instead planned to play Kinder, whose game with South Cameron was canceled following Hurricane Ike’s landfall in coastal Texas.

Later in the week, South Cameron agreed to play Kinder on Friday, which forced Rayne out of its replacement game, so the RHS coaches contacted Jeanerette and wanted to play the scheduled game.

The result: On Friday, the Wolves (2-0) will be at Jeanerette (1-1) with the Tigers’ one-game winning streak on the line after a four-day turnaround from playing Monday night.

Hanson at Hamilton Christian

Hanson (0-1) played its week two game against Riverside Academy on Monday night in Reserve and afterward coach HMS Richard Sandusky wasn’t sure if his team’s game at Hamilton Christian (0-1) would go on Friday in Lake Charles, which was hit hard by Ike.

“They wanted to play and were ready to play,” said Sandusky. “I know its a short week but other teams have done that before. I’d rather play and get the game in than not play and have to wait another week to play.

“Even though we lost to Riverside we played well and I think that we can play well Friday night.”

E.D. White at Erath

According to EHS assistant coach and athletic director Tommy Byler, Friday’s game against E.D. White will be played either at Erath or at Vermilion Catholic in Abbeville.

“The final decision hasn’t been made but we feel that our stadium will be dry and capable of hosting a game,” said Byler.

The Bobcats (1-0) beat Vermilion Catholic 35-0 last week in a game moved up to Thursday because of Ike, while the Cardinals (1-0) beat Assumption 27-20 in their first game since Gustav made landfall.

Eunice at Catholic High

The Catholic High Panthers (1-0), who haven’t played since beating Jeanerette 14-0 on Sept. 8, return to action Friday at home against the third-ranked team in the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s Class 4A poll, the Eunice High Bobcats (1-0).

“I don’t think that we’re going to have a problem after not playing last week,” said CHS coach Craig Brodie. “We’ve been going with the flow and it’s nice to be back at school with a normal week.”

Kaplan at Franklin

The Franklin Hornets (0-1) plays host to Kaplan Friday in what at first appears to be a contrast in styles. Kaplan (1-0) likes to run the ball under former Abbeville and Crowley coach Brent Indest while Franklin runs a more pass-oriented offense under Zeb Simon.

West St. Mary at Abbeville

The Wolfpack (0-1) turn around after losing to Jeanerette Monday night and have to travel to Abbeville to face the Wildcats (0-1) Friday.

Sacred Heart at Loreauville

The Loreauville Tigers (1-0) played on Wednesday in a game moved up two days because of the second hurricane to impact the state this football season, beating former district rival Central Catholic with the help of two kickoff returns and a blocked punt for touchdowns and a mishandled punt that led to another TD.

Sacred Heart is a quick team that is not very big up front, said LHS coach Trent Delahoussaye of this week’s game, who has known Sacred Heart coach Dutton Wall for many years.

“They’re real tough and well coached,” said Delahoussaye. “Dutton Wall is a great football coach. He’s a great guy. He called me yesterday and wanted to know if he had to kick off to us.”

The Trojans (1-0) beat a good Menard team last week, said Delahoussaye, and have a very good running quarterback and a good tailback. Defensively, Sacred Heart switches its alignments a lot to confuse offenses, he added.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday at LHS.

New Iberia at Northside

New Iberia (0-1) dropped its season opener at Acadiana last Thursday after playing well early but struggling following heavy rains that came during the game.

“After we fell behind we tried to throw too much,” said NISH coach Rick Hutson. “We got impatient. We were about 60-40 (percent) throw to run, and we want it to be more the other way.”

Northside (0-1) is better than its 47-7 loss to Comeaux showed last week, said Hutson.

“They had only two days to prepare for (Comeaux’s) veer offense,” said Hutson. “Everything that could’ve gone right for Comeaux went right. They jumped on them early.”

As usual, the Vikings have a good running back, and a quarterback who throws the ball well, said Hutson. They also have the best two offensive linemen that he’s seen at Northside.

“We’ve got to play better defensively,” said Hutson. “We really didn’t play well up front. Offensively we’ve got to get drives sustained.”

Delcambre (Open date)

The Delcambre Panthers, which also had its field covered in flood waters from Ike, had the third week of the season off since Acadiana Prep dropped out of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association in July.

DHS returns on Thursday, Sept. 25 win the team plays host to Loreauville.