As far as preseason goes, Neville couldn’t have notched much more of a statement win than Friday’s shutout of cross-river rival West Monroe.
The Tigers ran the ball at will early and cruised their way to a 27-0 victory in the Bayou Jamb nightcap in front of an impressive hometown crowd for the preseason tuneup.
Now, coach Mike Collins said the message to his Tigers is to keep in perspective: It is a jamboree, and nothing changes about either the challenging slate or the necessary work ahead.
“That is exactly what I just got through trying to tell our team,” the coach said. “We’re gonna worry about the process. We’re gonna worry about the outside noise. Is the outside noise gonna deter us from being a good football team if we listen to how good we are and all that BS that goes on whenever you do something like we did in the jamboree.
“Now, we turn around, and we’ve got to go to work Monday. Well, actually we’re gonna go to work Sunday, and we’re gonna work some kinks out. We’re gonna run. We’re gonna get a little sweat broke, and we’re gonna get out there and get after it… The whole deal is if we don’t take care of the little things that happened to us tonight — 12 guys on the field, two guys with the same number on the field — we’ve gotta get those things worked out. We can’t have that happen to us, because in a big ball game, it’ll get our tail beat.”
Neville marched right down the field to open the matchup with a heavy dose of junior running back Jarvis Blackston and a goal-line keeper by senior quarterback Parker Robinson to set a strong, physical tone right out the gate.
West Monroe answered with some early success moving the ball down the field with a passing attack led by senior Brady Guillot.
But a snap mishap stalled the drive as Neville sophomore athlete C.J. Goins pounced on the loose ball to snatch away possession.
The Rebels’ push to the 25 would be their farthest of the night.
Robinson hit sophomore wide receiver Deuntra “Reaper” Scheanette for a 50-yard strike down the field to set up a short Rex Parker field goal.
And then the Tigers similarly took advantage of a deep interception by sophomore cornerback Danny Evans Jr. for a quick drive and long Rivers Sorrell field goal for the 13-0 lead at the break.
“We’ve just gotta give ’em that 24-hour mindset,” Robinson said of striking the balance between young players gaining confidence and getting too high. “I know they’re young, and I know if I was a sophomore or a freshman playing in this game and we won 27-0, I’d be all pumped up. But we’ve definitely just gotta keep ’em humble, keep ’em grounded and just talk to ’em tomorrow and Sunday and let ’em know, ‘Hey, the jamboree, yes, we keep score, but it doesn’t go in that W and L column.'”
Neville only continued to power its way out of reach in the second half with disruptive defensive pressure and a balanced attack by Blackston and senior running back Kayden Jones and some quick passes from Robinson to the outside.
Robinson capped another drive with his second goal-line keeper, and Jones added a touchdown run to highlight his performance.
“We’ve got four really good backs and are really pleased with what they’re doing,” Collins said. “And they help your O-line. And tey can make you miss, and they can do things that make them look good. But we’re doing a better job up front, and we wanted to establish that. And we’ve got to to be successful in the end throwing the football. If we’re gonna throw the football any, we’ve got to be able to run the football. That’s what I’m most pleased about: We take the football, and we run the damn football. We did a great job with it and were able to control the clock and were able to give our defense a chance to catch our breath. And those are the things that are important to this whole deal.”
This article will be further updated…
