Shop Iberia first. In a special way, the parish’s many high school football fans get a chance to do just that starting tonight and concluding Friday at Loreauville High School’s Tiger Stadium and Lloyd G. Porter Stadium, respectively.

Football is in the air, for sure, as the Iberia Youth Football League season got under way Saturday at New Iberia Senior High and the bigger boys on the varsity level start playing for real Friday. This is a good chance to support your favorite team(s) from the start and you don’t have to go outside the parish to do it.

Football players, coaches, cheerleaders and band members have been practicing diligently during the summer weeks leading up to the regular-season openers next week. They all are part of the big picture that is the high school sports scene, one that can be narrowed down to focus on the school(s) you might root for the most.

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Win or lose, they deserve your support.

Coaches at the respective high schools got into the spirit of the 2009 Iberia Parish Sugar Cane Football Jamboree Tuesday. They met at an annual luncheon at Ramada Inn, where they “vied” for the “Notso Sweet Award” that goes to the coach telling the biggest sob story, or thigh-slapping whopper.

They’re teams start popping pads tonight in the ritual that ushers in fall. The jamboree games, while they might be a little more than glorified scrimmages, give everybody a good look at the team they love to support for the next four months, besides the New Orleans Saints, of course.

Today’s junior varsity action starts at 5:30 p.m. when Delcambre High School plays Westgate High School, followed by Jeanerette Senior High School vs. Loreauville High School at 6:30 p.m. and finishing with Westgate against NISH at 7:30 p.m. Those mini-games are being played at LHS, where admission is $4 at the gate only.

The stakes get a little higher Friday night at Lloyd G. Stadium. Tickets are $5 in advance from participating schools and $7 at the gate.

The varsity part of the jamboree starts at 5:30 p.m. with Delcambre against Jeanerette. Delcambre stays on the field to play Loreauville at 6:15 p.m., then Loreauville hangs around to play Jeaner-ette at 7 before the finale pitting inter-city rivals Westgate and NISH at 7:45 p.m.

Sponsors for the jamboree are Coca-Cola and The Daily Iberian. The sponsors bring this local event, one that helps bring the community together, to you with pride.

Enjoy. And good luck to the team(s) of your choice this week and for the rest of the season.

DON SHOOPMAN

SENIOR NEWS EDITOR