By LORI LYONS, Journal Sports
Now that the St. Mary’s Tigers have their first win behind them, they are looking for the next one.
The Tigers and first-year coach Kedrin Seastrunk finally erased the goose egg in their win column Friday night, taking a 17-12 victory over visiting Holy Savior Menard in the annual Bishop’s Bowl, allowing them to hold on to the coveted Bishop’s Bowl trophy for a fourth consecutive year.
But now St. Mary’s must turn its attention to the Many Tigers, who are a surprising 0-3 with lopsided losses to Logansport (46-7), DeRidder (37-0) and Leesville (60-35).
“Probably not too many times you’ve said that — Many is 0-3,” Seastrunk said.
The first thing his team has to do is get past the name the other team is wearing. Even though last year was not great, Many’s program in the past decade-plus has been one of the most successful in the state. The Sabine Parish Tigers are a longtime Class 2A power.
“It’s going back probably 20 years that St. Mary’s hasn’t beat Many,” Seastrunk said. “We’ve just got to keep them focused. But then, at the same time, I think Many has a great environment. Regardless of the record, when you’re playing at Many you know you’re playing at Many. We have to make sure we’re ready, make sure we’re prepared, make sure we’re focused. Most of all it’s believing in ourselves.
Seastrunk said he has seen steady improvement in his young team and in his own coaching. The first two weeks taught him some lessons and led to him making adjustments on and off the field.
“We have a lot of guys playing both ways and we have a high requirement of them,” Seastrunk said. “(The goal) was to make sure we get in shape. They said we ran more this week than we ran all year. We condition, condition, condition. The more they’re in the game the better the team can be.”
Meanwhile, the Lakeview Gators are still working for their first win under the Lawrence Seawood Jr. regime. Lakeview has lost to Class 4A Booker T. Washington (52-0), Delhi Charter (44-0) and Class 4A Woodlawn (48-0).
This week the Class A Gators host DeQuincy, which is 3-0 with wins over Hamilton Christian (32-13), Lake Arthur (31-14) and Oberlin (45-0).
“They’re a very well coached team,” Seawood said. “And they’re on a roll right now. We have to try to control the clock and manage the game.”
Contact Lori at sportslyons@gmail.com