GAMEDAY: Newman looking to stay undefeated; Holy Cross, Northshore going for key district wins

Ambrose leads the group, but fellow tailbacks Gary Davis and Kenny Zenon aren’t too far behind. All three are lightning quick, and all three are tough runners.

“Over all, looking at them, they all do different things well,” Stewart said.

To combat that, Stewart will rely on a defense that has improved with each week, and it all starts up front with his four down linemen.

“They’ve consistently, each week, risen to the occasion,” Stewart said. “They really, really have come up each week.”

He added, “I think this is their biggest challenge this week. To have a chance against St. James, you have to have people who can stop them.”

Holy Cross at Salmen, 7 p.m.
Asked how Holy Cross would have a chance to put some points on the board against Salmen, Tigers’ head coach Barry Wilson harkened back to how LSU defeated Florida this past weekend.

“They’re hard to beat to the corner,” said Wilson, a former LSU standout. “You have to run at them to beat them. If we can’t do that, we’ll have to move the ball and adjust to them. Kind of what LSU did to Florida. You don’t want to run sideways, you want to run at them.”

Of course, that’s assuming Holy Cross (5-1, 1-0 District 9-4A) runs the ball much at all. Quarterback Chris Brady is one of the top quarterbacks in the metro area, and Kal Bonura is one of the best receivers. Together, they alone outscore a lot of opponents.

But to just talk about Holy Cross’ offense would be taking away from one of the areas top defenses. Holy Cross is allowing 14 points per game, and is coming off of a shutout.

“I’m prejudiced, but I really think our defense is doing a really extremely good job for us,” Wilson said.

And as much as Wilson wants his offense to run straight at Salmen’s defense, he wants to make sure the same thing happens on the other side of the ball. That’s the only way to contain the Spartans (3-3, 0-1)

“We’re going to have to contain their speed,” Wilson said. “That’s hard to do. They’re quick backs that run at you. And they can run. They’ve got a lot of speed and they can get on the edge.”

Northshore at St. Paul’s, 7 p.m.
Northshore (5-1, 2-1 District 7-5A) hasn’t been friendly with the end zone since starting quarterback Jervious Epherson went down with a season-ending leg injury in the Sept. 14 game against Bonnabel.

Fourteen points against Ponchatoula, 14 against Fontainebleau and only six against Hammond. But head coach Mike Bourg thinks his Panthers are poised for a breakout game under new starting quarterback Frank Osgood.

“I think he’s going to be better this week. He’s picking things up,” Bourg said. “In his second start against Hammond, the conditions were where he didn’t throw the ball but four times. He did what he had to do to win the game. I think dry field, it’s going to be a beautiful night. Frank’s going to do well. Got to believe he’s going to do well.”

Whatever Osgood does, Bourg said he has to make sure he keeps drives alive. If St. Paul’s consistently has the ball, meaning Northshore’s defense is on the field a lot, things won’t go well, Bourg said.

“If we’re successful doing that, and time of possession is in our favor big time, we’ll win the football game,” Bourg said. “If our defense is on the field all night, they’ll take advantage of that. They’re that good on offense.”

Nevertheless, Bourg said it’s his defense that is winning games for the Panthers. They’ve allowed 23 total points over the past three games, going 2-1. Bourg has made sure that the talent of the team plays on defense.

It’s a philosophy he learned under Salmen coach Jerry Leonard. “Defense wins championships, and we’re going to form a strong defense first and put together an offense on what he we have left.”

It starts up front for Northshore, where the Panthers will have to contend with a big, quick St. Paul’s offense. The defensive line − consisting of James Wigstrom, John Pytell, Chris Faulk, and Chris Wade − might not have big numbers, Bourg said, but you can tell how well they’re doing by the linebackers numbers.

“They’re good on their front line on both sides of the ball,” Bourg said. “We felt last year that they were the same. Real good up front.”