Last Friday night’s Natchitoches Regional Medical Center Jamboree at Turpin Stadium gave the football teams from St. Mary’s and Lakeview a final tuneup before the regular season begins this Friday night.

Both teams won 10-minute periods against Pickering, then played to a scoreless tie against each other.

Both coaches, Kedrin Seastrunk of St. Mary’s and Lawrence Seawood Jr. of Lakeview, are early in their first seasons and played conservatively – especially against each other, since they will meet again in the final game of the regular season in District 3-1A.

Seastrunk was looking ahead to this Friday night’s game at Turpin Stadium against a Bunkie team ranked No. 8 in Class 2A by the Louisiana Sports Writers Associations. The new Tiger coach was cautious but pleased assessing his team after the action last Friday night.

“I didn’t want to show much, so it’s hard to gauge. We were working on fundamentals, and just wanted to see them compete. Got that in some areas. Tackling, we’ve got to work on,” he said.

St. Mary’s was missing seven players, including five starters, out with injuries. Seastrunk liked how the young replacements fared.

“I’m impressed with my twos. I have some guys who had never played football who started tonight, which I feel like in the back end, will give us some depth,” he said.

What did the Tigers get from their two jamboree matchups?

“It showed us what we need to clean up, some key points. You only got 10-minute games tonight, and some guys are just getting cranked up and it’s over. Can’t wait for four quarters,” said the former NSU Demon standout tight end. “Just being in the lights, getting a chance to play here, is good. Some of them are like deer in the headlights. Understanding we have a young team, as a coach you have to realize you have a lot of breakdowns at this stage. You have to be patient, motivate them, teach them. That’s my challenge – understand they’re young, but try not to make an excuse, either.

“I do feel good about the progress tonight. There were certain things I needed to show them, for them to trust not only just my play calling, but to trust me understanding the personnel, and for them to understand I do things with reasons in mind. I am a players’ coach. I am big on morale, big on them being comfortable. I allowed them to see that some things they’re thinking won’t work, and they come back to the sideline saying, ‘alright coach, let’s go.’ Glad we got that out of the way. This game didn’t count but I promise you it will be a difference in Week 10 (when the Tigers and Gators meet in district play),” said Seastrunk.

Running back J.P. Thibodeaux scored a rushing touchdown against Pickering. “He ran the ball well, which I knew,” said the coach. “We didn’t give him the ball much going into the season. We’re getting ready to play a great team in Bunkie here next Friday night and we’ll show a lot more in that game.”

Lakeview’s Seawood had a similar take. He liked the Gators’ effort.

“I saw my guys play with a lot of heart. That was one thing I was skeptical about – was kids buying in and getting in a situation where they didn’t want to go all out. But they showed me today that they’re ready. I loved what I saw.”

The Gators won their matchup with Pickering on a long TD pass from Lamarion Rushing to Zantavious McKinney. That was remarkable since Lakeview rarely passed last season under former coach Andy Boone, whose offense was heavily run-based.

Fans at the jamboree didn’t have a Gator roster to check, by design, said Seawood.

“I was not going to give anyone the satisfaction of being on my roster and not being here (Friday night). So I didn’t make a roster early. I wanted to wait to this point at the end of preseason to see who is locked in, who is in for the long haul, and I am proud of those guys.”

Like his former Demon teammate, Seawood felt the jamboree helped his players gain faith in their new coach – and vice versa.

“I am pleased with a lot of progress I saw. The guys showed me a lot tonight. I think they understand now that what I’m doing, the schemes I’m running, it makes sense when you do it.”

The Gators open their season Friday night in Shreveport against Booker T. Washington.

Journal photo by KEVIN SHANNAHAN