Northlake Christian School’s Wolverines travel to the Southshore today to participate in the St. Martin Episcopal Jamboree in Metairie. The Wolverines under first-year head coach Tony Agresta go against the Thomas Jefferson Jaguars.

Thomas Jefferson, located in Gretna, is participating in Class 9-2A for the first time and will compete for district honors. The school started out as a middle school four years ago.

NCS and Thomas Jefferson square off at 6 p.m.

Northlake Christian School Wolverines’ quarterback Timmy Broussard (18) hands off to running back Derek Williams in Saturday’s scrimmage against Ascension Catholic. The Wolverines play Thomas Jefferson tonight in the St. Martin Jamboree. (File Photo by Mike McCall)

Agresta said he felt last week’s scrimmage against Ascension Catholic was very beneficial for his club.

“We got a lot accomplished. We did some things well and the things we didn’t do well are correctable. Some of the missed assignment related to reading keys can be fixed,” Agresta said.

Agresta said his club came out of the scrimmage healthy, which is good news.

“Our concern this week isn’t our opponent. We are focused on what we are trying to do and work on. Our players have to know their specific assignments and carry them out,” Agresta added.

Agresta said he still has a couple positions that are out there for the taking on the defensive side of the ball where players can still earn a starting spot.

Agresta said sophomore strong safety Austin Cherry played well defending passes and made several tackles. He also tallied on a 50-yard run from his quarterback position. Senior defensive end Cody Jones turned in a nice, consistent performance. against the run and held his own rushing the passer.

Senior Shelby Thomas, who just moved out defensive end, switching from outside linebacker opened a few eyes with his performance according to Agresta.

“He played the run aggressively and played physically, which the coaching staff was pleased with.”

Sophomore quarterback Timmy Broussard did a good job running the Wolverines’ offense.

“We held him back a bit in the scrimmage because there is no reason to expose our young quarterback to any unnecessary hits with the long season ahead of us,” Agresta said.

Junior halfback Derek Williams ran the ball extremely well in the scrimmage.

“He’s a hard runner who demonstrates good speed. He can get the tough yardage and can make the required moves in the open field,” Agresta added.

Williams also played the majority of the scrimmage at his corner back position.

Offensively, senior left tackle Robert Knight and junior center Cole Shorter had solid performances in the blocking game. Agresta said he was pleased with juniors Tyler Clark and Cliff Hall, who saw their first action at offensive guard after learning the new position and turned in good performances.

Thomas Jefferson, which has 41 players on its roster including six seniors of which four are starters, scrimmaged the Class 3A Berwick Panthers last week. Berwick tallied three TDs, while Chris Smith scored the Jaguars’ lone touchdown on a 60-yard run during the latter part of the scrimmage.

Thomas Jefferson first-year varsity coach Kevin Kelly said his offense runs out of a pro set I formation with junior quarterback Norman Landeche (5-11, 170) calling the signals. Sophomore running back Brockton Tross (5-8, 170) and senior Paul Duhon (5-10, 215) handle the Jaguars’ running game. Freshmen receivers John Lee (6-0, 155) and Alden Boudy (5-10, 160) are the team’s top receivers.

“Our team should be prepared. I’m looking for a victory and a physical performance from our players. We are primarily a running team, but we’ll throw the ball off of play action,” Kelly said.

Thomas Jefferson plays a 50-defense. The Jaguars’ three leading tacklers include senior free safety Ronnie Guidry (6-0, 160), junior Chris Smith (5-7, 240) and sophomore linebacker Brandon Savone (6-0, 180).