After two disappointing losses at home, the Vinton Lions will try their luck on the road this week as they travel to Welsh to take on the Greyhounds in a non-district contest.
The former district foes from last year will collide in Welsh as the Lions are looking to get healthy from a sick week last Friday.
Ten Vinton players were missing from the roster in the Lions 46-8 loss to South Cameron including senior starting running back Dylan Boudreaux.
“The flu bug it us pretty good last week,” said Lions’ head coach Wendell LeJeune. “Most of our backfield were out and we ended up starting two freshmen and a sophomore in the backfield.
“Everybody was at practice yesterday and it looks like by Friday we’ll be all right as far as number-wise.”
The Lions are going to need all the health they can get as the head into Greyhound territory against a high octane rushing attack.
“Probably the strength of our team is the running game,” Welsh head coach Robbie Gates said. “We are going to hang our hat on it every night and we’ve got some pretty good running backs.”
The Greyhounds are led by senior fullback Will Guidry and a stable of running backs that include Nick Hebert. Guidry has already rushed for 227 yards and four touchdowns this season while Nick Hebert has stepped in for an injured David Caraway and has 128 yards and a touchdown on the ground for the Greyhounds.
“Guidry is that big back type of kid,” LeJeune said on the Welsh fullback. “He’s not quite as heavy as St. Andre for Iota, but he is similar to him. He’s a good strong back and more of a meat and potatoes guy up the middle.
“Hebert does a good job of running hard for big chunks. He’s a wing-slot type guy so he runs reverses and misdirections. And when he gets outside, it’s 15 to 20 yards at a time.”
Gates said that the running game revolves around Guidry, but has others that can produce as well.
“He’s a three year starter,” Gates said on Guidry.” He runs the ball hard and is a big strong kid that’s hard to bring down. We also have Dylan Hebert back there and Justin Morvant also who come in and do a good job of blocking and can run the ball when given.”
The backs will be running through holes made by what Gates calls a strong offensive line.
“They have a pretty solid offensive line that they are running behind,” commented Gates. “Those guys are not overly big but they get the job done. They really work hard.”
LeJeune said that he sees that the Greyhounds will try to run their offense as effectively as possible.
“Their linemen are pretty good sized and are predominately offensive oriented,” LeJeune said. “They are going to try to score a bunch of points. They mix it up with a lot of motion and misdirection plays. It’s a tough task.”
On the other side of the ball, Gates says he sees a typical Lion team coming into his place that has gotten better each week.
“Even though scores haven’t reflected it, I do see a typical Vinton team that the kids are playing hard and trying to win,” Gates said. “I don’t think they are going to be a push-over at all.”
From what he has seen, Gates believes the balance between run and pass maybe an issue for his young defense.
“Breaking them down, it looks like they are about 50-50 run and pass,” Gates said. “They have been successful getting the ball out to their athletes and letting them do their thing. We are really going to have to be on top of it. But that creates a problem there.
“If you have a team that runs 50-percent and passes 50-percent, you don’t know what to expect each play. We are going to have to hunker down and be able to stop both of them. I don’t think we will be able to shut them down completely, but hopefully we will be able to slow them down a little bit and let our defense catch up and get some stops.”
LeJeune is looking to continue to run the short passing game, but will not limit his offense to the short to intermediate routes.
“We don’t have the speed to throw the long ball very often,” said LeJeune. “We are able to throw it but our guys aren’t that fast. We have to suck them in with the short passes and try to go over their heads every once in a while.”
LeJeune continued and said that the key for Vinton this week will be controlling the clock and keeping the Greyhound rushing game off the field.
NOTE: Vinton quarterback Joe Prince sustained an ankle injury at the end of the game against South Cameron and is listed as probable for Friday’s game.
Vinton, La. —
