Multiple Acadiana area high school football teams are searching for a week 1 opponent after Hurricane Ida caused several teams in Southeast Louisiana to cancel their games.
Area schools looking for an opponent include St. Thomas More, Ascension Episcopal and Highland Baptist, who were all scheduled to face schools in the New Orleans area or the Bayou Region this week.
St. Thomas More was scheduled to face Brother Martin, and while they haven’t gotten a new opponent locked in, they’ve been in contact with several teams.
“We found out today (Monday) that they (Brother Martin) are not playing,” St. Thomas More coach Shane Savoie said. “We’ve been on the phone all day today trying to figure it out. AT&T is out in Baton Rouge, so it’s a big wait and see as of now.”
The Cougars will likely face a Baton Rouge school that was scheduled to face a team affected by Ida, which could make for an exciting matchup.
“It will be a marquee matchup if the situation comes through,” Savoie said. “U-High, Madison Prep, Woodlawn, Zachary and Catholic (BR) are all possibilities since they were playing schools that were affected by the hurricane. We looked at the schedule today, and those were the four or five possibilities.”
Ascension Episcopal was scheduled to travel down to South Lafourche, and while they haven't gotten official word that the game is canceled, they’ll most likely be searching for a new opponent this week.
“Nothing is official yet, but it doesn’t look good for the game Friday,” Ascension Episcopal coach Matt Desormeaux said. “They (South Lafourche) haven’t canceled yet, so we can’t lock anything else in until they do. It’ll depend on what the coach says, but we’re willing to make things work if possible.”
“We can’t practice today because we don’t have school, but the rest of the week will be normal in preparation for South Lafourche. If not, we'll look for somebody else, and we’ll just use this week to get better if we can’t (find an opponent).”
Highland Baptist was scheduled to face Houma Christian and are also in search of a new opponent this week, and they’re looking into scheduling either Gueydan or Mamou, who were also scheduled to face teams in the Bayou Region.
“I haven’t spoken with them (Houma Christian) yet, but I’m anticipating we won’t play,” Highland Baptist coach Rick Hutson said. “There are a couple possibilities if teams are able to play. We’ve been talking to Gueydan and Mamou.”
Highland could have other scheduling issues down the road, as they’re scheduled to face St. John in week 3 and Covenant Christian in week 6.
Another area team without a week 1 opponent is Lafayette High, but it appears that will remain since they didn’t have anyone scheduled before the hurricane.
“We’ve just been on the phone trying to figure it out," Savoie said. "We would like to keep our home game, but we’re just trying to get what we can get.”