Pine opens district play at Hannan
Published 11:45 pm Thursday, September 26, 2013
Pine begins its seven-game District 8-2A schedule tonight when the Raiders travel to Archbishop Hannan in Covington.
Tonight marks the first time this year Pine will be playing a game after a loss. The Raiders, 2-1, were defeated 38-20 last week by Bogalusa.
Pine coach Bradley Seal said his team is doing OK.
“I think they came back well and had a good week of practice,” Seal said.
One of the points of emphasis this week is finishing, Seal said. The Raiders were up 20-18 last week and had a first down at Bogalusa’s 18, but eventually turned the ball over on downs. BHS took the lead for good following the change of possession.
“Any time you have a team with a chance to close it out, you have to do it,” Seal said. “You can’t let them hang around.”
Quarterback Derrick Dillon continues to put up impressive numbers. The junior has run for 660 yards and eight touchdowns after running for 171 yards last week.
Adarrius Berry was the second leading rusher against Bogalusa with 27 yards.
Seal said three of the men blocking — Chris Brown, Devin Phillips and Brandon Jones — stepped up on the offensive line last week.
Seal said Brown normally only plays defensive tackle but went both ways in the second half of last week’s game after a halftime adjustment. Seal said Brown going both ways this week would depend on the game situation.
Defensively, Seal said end Markell Dillon played well last week.
“He just comes in, doesn’t say much and gets the job done,” Seal said. “He’s another defensive lineman stepping up. Whether it’s Chris Brown, Thaddeus Bickham or Seth Brown, if one of them is single blocked, they are going to make a play.”
Archbishop Hannan enters the game with a 3-0 record after getting past De La Salle 20-17 in overtime last week. Seal said the Hawks are a typical Hannan team.
“They’ve had this same group of kids for a while,” Seal said. “The quarterback (Korey Zeigler) has been there since the eighth grade. He’s good. The defense plays fundamentally sound football.”
Zeigler is a fifth-year starter. This year he’s 26 for 40 (65 percent) for 229 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions.
He is also the team’s leading rusher at 178 yards and five TDs, as Hannan spreads out the ball carriers.
“Korey’s a very good quarterback,” Hannan coach Pat Lambert said. “He can run, he can throw, he makes the right reads, he makes the right checks, and he gets us out of binds.”
Lambert said his club is looking for more consistency on offense.
“We had a couple of quick scores and then got complacent,” Lambert said. “I don’t take anything away from De La Salle. They have a lot of new people and some really good athletes. They have six or seven guys that can score at any time. Defensively, they have one of the best Mike (middle) linebackers around.”