Tom Dodge
No. 10 St. Edmund will open the Division IV playoffs with a trip to No. 7 Riverside Academy.
“We are ready for the playoffs,” Blue Jay head coach James Shiver said. “Our guys know it is win or go home and the seniors really want to win a playoff game.”
Last year, the Jays fell in the first round to Southern Lab, 53-7.
In 2018, St. Edmund lost to district rival Catholic High of Pointe Coupee (19-12) to open the playoffs.
Riverside Academy (6-2) enters the playoffs after falling to rival Country Day in the regular season finale.
Elijah Davis scored twice for Riverside, including a 64-yard run.
Gage Larvadain added a 58-yard touchdown run to give the Rebels the lead in the final minute.
But Country Day hit a game winning field goal to slip past Riverside, 34-32.
“They have a real fast quarterback (Larvadain),” Shiver said of the Rebels offense. “As he goes, they go. He runs the ball a lot and even when you don’t expect it.”
In the second game of the season, Riverside won in a 61-57 overtime shoot-out over Catholic High of Pointe Coupee, led by Larvadain’s 291 yards on 15 carries and five touchdowns.
The Rebels’ first loss of the season was against Isidore Newman, 31-26.
Riverside scored more than 40 points five times this season, but Shiver said he thinks the game will be determined by his defense.
“Nick Trosclair and Jacob Aguillard have done a great job all year coaching our defense,” Shiver said. “You can’t win championships without defense. It doesn’t matter if we score 52 points, if they score 53 points we lose.
“I feel our defense will play a big part of the game,” Shiver said. “If we can stop them, we definitely have a chance to win.”