Kaplan playing VC in football is rare

A rare occurrence is happening in Abbeville today at Vermilion Catholic High School. The rare occurrence will start at 7 p.m. in Eagle Stadium.
The Vermilion Catholic Eagles entertain the Class 3A Kaplan Pirates. These two schools are no strangers to playing each other in other sports except football.
This is not the first time they battle each other on the football field. They played one another in the early 1980s
In 1982 the Pirates lost to the Eagles 3-0. Troy Hebert kicked a 30-something yard field goal for VC. The defense did the rest. It was the second game of the season for both teams.
Unofficially, it is not known if the two teams ever played again in a football game until this year.
The Pirates (1-0) , 44-7 winners over Abbeville last week, visit Eagle Stadium to battle the No. 3 ranked Eagles (1-0).
Kaplan head coach Stephen Lotief, who is familiar with the Eagles because his former North Vermilion teams have had some good games against VC.
“They do everything well,” said Lotief about the Eagles. “They have a high octane offense, a solid defense and special teams are very good. Vermilion Catholic is a very good team all around.”
This will be the Eagles second straight game where it plays up in classification. Last week VC beat Class 2A Catholic High 35-21. Kaplan comes into the game ranked No. 11 in Class 3A.
The two teams do not have similar offenses.
The Pirates like to keep the ball on the ground, whereas VC is not afraid to air it out.
Kaplan has a dual threat with tailback Grant Frick and fullback Julius Johnson, who both ran for 1,000 yards in 2014.
The Pirates run out of the Wing-T offense, similar to what Catholic High ran last week.
After the first game of 2015, they are on pace to reach a 1,000 yards again. Frick ran for 114 yards and scored three times, while Johnson rushed for 93 yards and scored twice.
If the Pirates have to, they can throw.
Quarterback Jade Herpin threw for 700 yards last year. Herpin, coming off a hand injury prior to the season, only needed to throw the pigskin five times against Abbeville. He completed two for 35 yards.
One person who knows Kaplan well is VC quarterback Hunter Frith. Frith is originally from Kaplan and grew up playing pee-wee football with Frick and the upperclassmen for Kaplan.
“They are going to be a physical team,” said Frith. “They are going to come at you as hard as they can.”
Frith, who also plays linebacker, said by having Frick and Johnson running the Wing-T, it will give VC’s defense a challenge.
“They are great athletes,” added Frith. “We have to stop two.”
While VC’s defense will be trying to figure out how to stop Frick and Johnson, Kaplan’s defense will have its hands full trying to stop Frith’s passing game.
The senior threw for 3,000 yards as a junior. Thus far, if you count the scrimmage, jamboree and first game, Frith has thrown for more than 700 yards in three contests.
Last week he finished with 265 yards passing. He was 19 of 39 passing to go along with his three touchdowns.
For most teams, if a receiver catches five balls, it is a season. For VC, two players had five catches while one had four in one game.
Payton Trahan hauled in five catches for 65 yards and scored once. Devron Constantine also had five receptions for 47 yards and a score.
The Eagles had some success running the football late in the game.
Freshman Kalix Broussard had an 11 yard average in the fourth quarter and finished with 66 yards and he scored a touchdown.