In a matchup of Hawks, Archbishop Hannan got their 2009 season underway Friday going against St. Helena Central on the road as the two clubs squared off in a scrimmage.

The Hannan Hawks are off this week as they prepare to open the regular season Friday Sept. 4 against the Northlake Christian School Wolverines. Hannan will participate in District 6-1A this season, and is competing for district honors for the first time in two years.

Head coach George Templet enters his third season with the Hawks, which finished 4-5 last year.

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“We were able to get physical with somebody else other than beating up on each other. We got an idea of where we are, and where we need to go,” Templet said.

The scrimmage featured 20 plays with the No. 1s followed by 10 plays with the No. 2s. The teams also participated in an overtime type drill with the ball placed at the 10-yard line, which was followed by two 12-minute halves with a running clock.

St. Helena scored three times all on long runs coming on busted type plays with only one tally coming in the timed portion of the scrimmage.

Hannan generated a last possession drive with a minute remaining and moved the ball down to the St. Helena Central eight before running out of time.

Templet graded out his team’s performance at a C- feeling they didn’t meet the overall expectations.

He said his team came out of the scrimmage with a couple minor bumps and bruises, but overall they are fine.

Templet said he liked the way senior quarterback Andrew Arceneaux controlled the Hawks offense. Arceneaux, in his second year under center, after moving from wide receiver, ran the new no huddle scheme effectively, according to his coach.

“Andrew did a good job with clock management as well as making sure his teammates were lined up in the proper position. He demonstrated his athleticism running the ball when pass plays broke down,” Templet added.

Hannan only tallied once in the scrimmage with Arceneaux hooking up with junior Stuart Seiler on a 15-yard pass, which occurred during the first 12-minute half.

The Hawks concentrated on their passing attack in the scrimmage, throwing the ball approximately 35 times, while rushing only seven.

Junior Ryan Deffes carried the ball the most and did a nice job.

Templet said his three senior offensive linemen Matt Lambou and Phillip Dennis at tackles and center Kyle Constance did a good job holding their own.

Templet said he has to rework the guard play, which wasn’t quite up to par.

“We need to work on our younger guards freshman Chris Dufour and junior Mark Morel to improve their pass protection. They did an okay job handling their run block assignments, but can do better with pass blocking,” Templet said.

Defensively, Templet praised the play of senior defensive end Logan Booksh, who played a solid game against both the pass and run. He also said junior cornerback David DeHarde did a good job with consistent run support and had good pass coverage.

Templet said his players were in the right defensive positions the majority of the time, but as was the case last year, they missed too many tackles.

“We have to review our tackling form and do a better job of wrapping up the opponent. There is no magical potent, it is more a repetition type thing,” Templet added.