Nothing's Changed for Tigers, Blue Jays

Non-district Status Doesn't Dim Rivalry

(The following article is courtesy of The Times-Picayune and nola.com)

Friday, September 28, 2007

By Pierce W. Huff

Jesuit Coach Wayde Keiser still remembers the first time he played in a Jesuit-Holy Cross football game.

It was the fall of 1977, and the stands at Tad Gormley Stadium were packed with 20,000 fans. Keiser was a 16-year-old junior center for Jesuit, and the Blue Jays had been looking forward to the Holy Cross game all year and saw the contest as one of the victories they needed to put Jesuit football back on the map.

"It was an extremely physical game," Keiser said.

Some things never change. But one thing has.

Another large crowd and another rough-and-tumble game is expected tonight at Gormley, where Jesuit (3-1) plays Holy Cross (3-1) at 7:30 p.m. in the continuation of the city's oldest high school football rivalry.

Only this time it won't be a district game. Reclassification knocked Holy Cross to Class 4A, and Jesuit remains in 5A and the Catholic League.

Jesuit leads the series 50-36-1 and has won six of the past 10 games. Even though this isn't a district game, coaches and players said the rivalry isn't diminished.

"This is a great rivalry," said Keiser, in his first season with the Blue Jays. "I've read about rivalries across the country, and I think this ranks up there with the best of them."

Holy Cross Coach Barry Wilson said he loves facing Jesuit. "This is a great challenge, and they are a good football team," Wilson said.

Holy Cross defensive end Fernandez Garner said he especially wants to play in this game after the Tigers' 21-7 loss to Jesuit last season. In that game, a group of Holy Cross players made T-shirts that read "OPEN SEASON BLUE JAY HUNTING," and then lost to Jesuit for the first time since 2004.

"I've been waiting for this game for the longest," Garner said. "We just didn't come out to play (last year), and it's basically that simple. Since it's my senior year I've been telling my coaches I've been looking forward to this game."

Both teams are coming off of their first losses of the season. Holy Cross allowed 457 yards rushing in a 42-14 loss at Vandebilt.

"We got a slow jump (against Vandebilt)," Garner said. "We were assignment sound, but we just didn't come out like we should have."

"This week we've been correcting our mistakes, and hopefully people will see a big difference," said Holy Cross quarterback Chris Brady.

Jesuit was held to 63 yards in a 16-9 loss to Baton Rouge-Catholic last week. Keiser said there were some positives offensively in the defeat.

"We're still taking steps in the right direction," he said. "(Quarterback) Ethan Oddo is getting better every week. Our wide receivers are doing a good job. Every week we're getting a little better, and we have to keep on trying to improve."

The key matchup will be Jesuit's defense against Holy Cross' offense. Jesuit has allowed 42 points and has one shutout this season. The 16 points the Blue Jays allowed last week were the most they've allowed this season.