By Steve Dooley -
06.13.08
The 2008 high school football season
will debut in North Louisiana once again with the annual
Bayou Jamb at Malone Stadium in Monroe on Saturday,
August 30. This will be the third year the event is
hosted by St. Francis Medical Center and North Louisiana
Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Clinic.
Registration for the Van-Trow
NFL-Pepsi Punt, Pass and Kick contest will begin at 10
a.m with the contest to follow at 11 a.m. Tailgating will
be available in The Grove around noon, with live
entertainment, food and other activities scheduled.
The gates will open at 1 p.m. Tickets
will be available for $8. The early game beginning at 2
p.m. once again features 3A Rayville going up against 2A
Calvary Baptist. The Hornets will try to avenge their
loss to Calvary Baptist last year.
Class 1A Oak Grove will take the field
around 4 p.m. against 2A Jonesboro-Hodge. Ouachita and
Ruston will go head-to-head at 6 p.m. and the final game
of the night matches 5A West Monroe and 4A Neville around
8 p.m.
The Tigers of Oak Grove will hope to
avoid the letdown in the second half of last year's
contest which saw a 21-6 half-time lead evaporate. A
series of mishaps in the second half allowed J-Hodge to
rack up 21 unanswered points to claim a 27-21 victory in
the 30-minute contest consisting of two 15-minute halves.
The two teams were fairly evenly
matched last year as indicated by the final score and
total yardage. J-Hodge racked up 255 yards on the ground
while Oak Grove had 254. Neither team was very effective
throwing and managed only 32 and 16 yards respectively.
Oak Grove will open their regular
season the following Thursday night in Rayville as they
take on the Hornets in a non-district match-up.
Oak
Grove versus J-Hodge in Bayou Jamb