Patriots travel to face Rayne

The North Vermilion Patriots take the field hoping to get their first one of the season.
They travel to play the Rayne Wolves. This is a familiar opponent to the Patriots, since both teams faced each other last year and the game resulted in a 28-10 loss for North Vermilion.
The two teams enter the game with opposite records. The Wolves are coming off of an impressive 33-6 win over St. Edmunds, in which the team racked up over 550 yards of offense.
North Vermilion enters the game looking to make amends for a 28-20 loss to Episcopal of Baton Rouge. In that game, the Patriots started slow, falling down 21-3 in the first half, due to miscues, and inopportune turnovers. They were able to cut the deficit to 21-13 by halftime. North Vermilion’s defense clamped down in the second half only allowing one score by Episcopal, but they were not able to get over the hump as they were able to get one score up on the board as well.
Heading into tonight’s game, they key will be for North Vermilion to stop the speed of the Wolves. Rayne has a three-headed rushing attack that begins with Notre Dame transfer, John Michael Besse. Besse, along with Deontay Wildridge and Byron Mouton can cause problems for any team that they face this year.
The Wolves rushed for 408 against Beau chene with Besse leading the way with 224 yards.
Aside from the running backs, the Wolves quarterback, Jalen Reed, also has speed that can cause problems. Reed, the son of former NFL and LSU player, Josh Reed, is in his first season as the starting quarterback, and still trying to get used to the offense.
The Patriots running game will need to be the catalyst for the offense to succeed under head coach Richard Prejean, who seems to prefer a run-first offense. The tandem of Taylor Abshire and Jordan Windham will have to gash the Rayne defense on the ground in order to free up the passing game for quarterback Ty Desormeaux, and his trio of receivers: Seth Patin, Dade Dieterich and Connor Dupui.
Rayne’s speed may be a problem but North Vermilion’s defense should be up to the challenge after facing Episcopal last week. After a rough first half defensively, the Patriot defense made adjustments, and were impressive.
In this matchup of two different types of offenses, it will be the other side of the ball, that will determine which team gets the win.
Game time is 7 p.m.