The Mandeville Skippers get the Covington Jamboree underway tonight at 6 o’clock going against the Holy Cross Tigers followed by the host Lions teeing it up against the Class 2A defending state champion John Curtis Patriots.

MHS, 9-2 last season, tackles the Tigers, who finished 2-7 last year.

Mandeville head coach Guy LeCompte, in his fourth season, said Holy Cross is young, but they look talented on film.

Covington’s Daniel Thompson (82) wraps up South Plaquemines’ Mike Barthelemy as teammate Robert Memleb (45) closes in on the play in last week’s scrimmage. The Covington High Jamboree takes place tonight. (File photo by Mike McCall)

“They are a hard-nosed football team and that is part of the Holy Cross tradition. They buy into coach Barry Wilson’s system and love playing for him,” LeCompte said.

LeCompte said his Skippers have had good practices leading up to the jamboree and said his offensive line played well against Archbishop Shaw in the scrimmage.

“Our line gave our quarterbacks time to throw. They opened up some running lanes and we were able to run the ball at times against a good Shaw defense,” LeCompte added.

LeCompte said his senior quarterback John Wenzel did a good job along with senior receiver Chris Houlemard, who made good runs after catches.

LeCompte also said sophomore quarterback Josh Glass came through in his offensive series as he connected with Tyler Spotts on some nice routes.

“Tyler has really good hands and should be a good addition to the receiving corps.

He’s gotten much stronger and faster and he’ll see more playing time,” LeCompte said.

LeCompte said special teams would be a point of emphasis this week.

“We have some question marks in personnel. We’ll be moving people around to try to find the best fit to put our players in positions to be successful.

Senior Derek Brown will handle the punting while senior Matt Dombrowski is back as the place kicker.

LeCompte praised the play of sophomore outside linebacker Sam McGivern, who only knows one speed.

“Sam always puts out his best effort. He never takes a play off whether it’s in practice or in a game,” LeCompte said.

He also said senior defensive end Everett Ellefsen and Jerry Peterson played well.

LeCompte said he wants his players to minimize mistakes and limit penalties.

“We want to focus on execution and avoid mental mistakes.”

Holy Cross Tigers eighth-year head coach Barry Wilson said flu like symptoms have had an affect on 25 of his 65 roster players out with the flu.

“Hopefully we will have enough to show up. We plan on doing everything we can to get this jamboree game in because it is important to both schools. We need the work,” Wilson said.

Wilson said he has 12 seniors and seven will start.

“Our seniors are doing a good job helping to develop the younger players. We are rebuilding with some young talent.”

Holy Cross scrimmaged Ponchatoula last week and fell 21-7.

“I felt good about how we performed at the end against what I consider a good Ponchatoula team.”

Wilson said junior Ryan Deemes (6-1, 175) and freshman Tucker Herzog (6-1, 165) are competing to start at quarterback.

Defensively, he said junior middle linebacker Brenton Bowman (5-9, 190) and sophomore outside backer Trey Hooper (6-1, 185) both played well against Ponchatoula. Wilson said he also got good efforts from sophomore cornerback Ed Eagan and junior free safety Ryan Wolfe.

Wilson said Mandeville is always well coached and is scrappy.

“They spread you out and throw the football all over the place. Coach Guy LeCompte does a good job with his program. I’m impressed the way he and his staff coach their club,” Wilson added.

Covington head coach Malter Scobel, in his second season, said like other schools his club has battled some strep and other flu like symptoms recently.

“We’ve had four or five players per week miss practice with flu like illnesses. Having players miss practice hurts game preparation,” Scobel said.

Scobel said it is a tough challenge going against John Curtis, the perennial state power.

“Our team respects the Curtis football team, but won’t back down. John Curtis has mystique and tradition that draws players that want to play for them. Since I was a young coach, other coaches told me if you are going to be the best, you have to play the best,” Scobel added.

“We watched them on film and they execute their schemes. Physically, they are probably one of the biggest Curtis teams that I have seen offensively. By no means are they small on defense because they also have some big kids on that side of the ball.”

Scobel said his club has some bumps and bruises, primarily at defensive end. I figure three or four defensive starters will be out of the lineup.

Senior Jeremiah Sasso is out with a groin pull and junior Devin Perez suffered a mild concussion in the scrimmage.

CHS junior Bradley Bellanger and sophomore Daniel LaRocca will replace them.

Soiphomore middle linebacker Otha Peters is also out with a groin pull, while senior backer Ryan Robinson, who has been nursing a knee injury won’t start, but hopefully will see action.

The Lions fell to South Plaquemines 18-7 in last week’s scrimmage.

Scobel said two sophomore cornerbacks Alvinio Culpepper and Geron Moore saw action in their first varsity game and met the coach’s expectations.

“Our secondary coverage was good downfield, but the short passing game hurt us because we missed too many tackles.”

Offensively, Lions’ junior wide receiver Jarius Bickham had three catches for 90 yards including a TD that covered 60 yards.

Scobel said his offensive line got beat to the punch.

“We didn’t make our blocks against a quick South Plaquemines defense. Our blocks seemed to be a step behind, which caused penetration,” Scobel said.