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Varnado’s Wildcats suffered a 38-20 loss to East Iberville in Friday’s season opener at home.

East Iberville is tied 10th in the Louisiana Sports Writers Association poll.

Varnado coach Milton Green said the team had 15 penalties and had three touchdowns taken off of the board by penalties.

Green credited his players for fighting hard, but said they could not overcome early mistakes.

Malik Patterson ran for 75 yards.

Benny Jarvis had one catch for 20 yards and a touchdown.

Jaheim Hooks had more than 200 yards all-purpose between passing and rushing and three touchdowns. Two of his touchdowns were rushing and one was passing.

Varnado’s next game takes place on Wednesday, Oct. 7 against Slaughter Community Charter at home with kickoff set for 6 p.m.

“This week’s game will be big for us, as every week is big. We’re playing Slaughter Community, a team out of Zachary, La.,” Green said.

Green said that Slaughter is a team with a good scheme and well coached.

“We’re looking for us to get better and improve from week one. We show signs and glimpses of what can be something special if we stay with the process of MTXE,” Green said. “I’m looking for our defense to improve on reading keys and attacking alleys. Offensively, we showed flashes, we just have to finish drives and not have penalties to halt drives.”

MTXE stands for mental toughness, extra effort.

Varnado won last year’s game against Slaughter Community Charter, 46-18.

Slaughter lost its opener to Ascension Catholic, 35-6, last week.

Varnado’s week three contest is against Bogalusa on the road on Oct. 16.