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Over the years, playing football in August is almost a guarantee there will be rain either by a tropical storm, hurricane or just lots of rain.
Once again, Mother Nature is creating havoc on high school before the season even began.
After six years of not playing one another, parish schools from Acadia and Vermilion parish are joining forces to create the Acadian/Vermilion parish jamboree.
Tonight, Kaplan, Abbeville, Erath, and North Vermilion are joining forces to battle Crowley, Rayne, Lake Arthur and Church Point.
The original plan was to play four games on Thursday and Friday.
Thanks to Tropical Storm Harvey, the Friday games at Kaplan High have been moved to tonight in Kaplan.
So, all four jamboree games will be played tonight.
At Rayne High School, Crowley will play Erath (6 p.m.) and Rayne will play Abbeville (7:30 p.m.).
Down the road in Kaplan, Church Point plays North Vermilion (6:30 p.m.) and Kaplan and Lake Arthur tangle (8 p.m.).
Those wishing to attend the jamboree are urged to purchase the tickets for the event at their respective schools. All proceeds from the tickets purchased at the schools remain at the schools
Money from the tickets purchased at the gate will be split between the four schools.

Acadia/Vermilion
Jamboree

Thursday:
Crowley vs. Erath (6 p.m.)
Rayne vs. Abbeville (7:30 p.m.)

Thursday (tickets $7 at schools, $8 at gate)
Church Point vs. NVHS (6:30 p.m.)
Kaplan vs. Lake Arthur (8 p.m.)

VC on the road

The Vermilion Catholic Eagles meet Ascension Episcopal at 6 p.m. tonight in the Teurlings jamboree.
The game will be played at Teurlings High School.
Ascension, a former district opponent, moved up to Class 2A this year.

Gueydan playing Friday

The Gueydan Bears, under are playing host to its own jamboree on Friday.
The jamboree is called the Gueydan Healthmart “Bear Down” Jamboree.”
The Bears will play Southside High out of Lafayette. Southside is a new Class 5A school that opened this year.
It will be their first scrimmage in the school’s history.
For Gueydan, it will be the first game under new head coach Roderick Moy.

Friday:

6 p.m. - Gueydan vs Hamilton Christian (HCA)
Southside vs. HCA (6:45 p.m.)
Southside vs. Gueydan (7:30 p.m.)

Kaplan City Court employees can expect bigger paychecks after a city council vote during their regular meeting last Tuesday.
City Judge Stanton Hardee had requested the raise for his employees in April 2017, but was denied due to lack of funds.
The change of tide came when the continued participation in the Vermilion Parish Economic Development District came up for discussion during the meeting. This participation costs the city $10,000 a year.
“I spoke with other entities and they are backing out because they just don’t have any money,” said Mayor Champagne.
The mayor told the council it was up for discussion if they wanted to renew for the full $10,000, just pay half, or pull out completely.
“I would also like to remind everyone we made a promise to Judge Stanton Hardee that if we found the money, we would include his employees in the 2.5% raise. I think we found the money right here.”
Councilman John Carbaugh felt the city should contribute something towards the economic development board because if something comes up, Kaplan would benefit more than those who are not participating.
“But $10,000 is a lot of money,” said Carbaugh. “I suggest we cut it in half and that would free up funds for court employees.”
Council members Eva Dell Morrison, Richard Leblanc and Melissa Guidry all agreed with Carbaugh’s statement. Councilman Dirk Gary was out of town on a business trip.
Upon hearing the council approved the raise, Judge Hardee stated, “On behalf of Kaplan City Court and its employees, I want to thank the Mayor and council for this raise. Theresa Greene has spent her entire working career at Kaplan City Court and this raise says to her and the two deputy clerks ‘Hey, we appreciate what you do and continue to do.’
“In tough economic times like these, every penny matters. These are local people who spend their money here in Kaplan and have families here. This raise is something positive they have to look forward to each year.”
In other business, the council
•Accepted the resignation of Aubrey Appling from the electrical department.
•Ratified the hiring of Craig Schexnider and Jonathan Breaux as linemen in the electrical department.

Councilwoman Melissa Guidry named the Kaplan All-stars Voodoo team as her August ‘Citizens of the Month.’ They are being recognized for their leadership and athletic skills.
This past summer, on the weekend of July 7-9, the Kaplan All-stars Voodoo Team competed on their home turf during the 2017 KYAA Summer Shootout, placing first in each teams division, 8U, 10U, 12U, and 14U.
Congratulations to all of the players, coaches, parents and volunteers on such an amazing and successful season. May God continue to bless you with talent, heart and dedication.
A letter from Coach Bart - Have you ever had the opportunity to experience something that you truly loved to do?
Something that lit a fire in your belly and left you hungry for more?
Something that kept your blood pumping when you thought things could not get worse?
I have.
For six years I was fortunate to have the pleasure to lead the most amazing group of young ladies I have ever encountered onto the field of play. To guide them, shape them, and mold them into who they are today.
But the funny thing about it is I was never the one guiding, shaping and molding. The funny thing is they were the ones guiding, shaping and molding me.
That’s what this journey has meant to me. To see someone fight for what you believe in and day after day lay everything out on the line for you is a life changing event.
This team has changed my life. I am not the person I was six years ago. This team has taught me that life is not only about me. It is about the people around you and how you treat those people on a day to day basis can not only determine their lives, but can determine your life. For that I can never repay them, for that I am forever grateful.
We started six years ago with 12 young ladies who were just trying to figure out the game of fastpitch softball. It was tough, at times it was brutal, but they never gave up, they never gave in and today we stand with four age groups of 50+ young ladies all representing the same goals in life. It is truly amazing to watch how the younger girls look up to the older age groups. I have told my team countless times that the one thing I hope they get out of this entire experience is that you are never too young to be a role model. You are never too young to have a positive impact on someone else’s life.
I have forged so many friendships through this process including C.J. Chargois, David Packard, Ryan Hebert, Anthony Sistrunk, Wendy Smith, Johnathan Hebert, Jeremy Richard, Amber Primeaux, Seth Abshire, Brandt Mouton, Marcus and Danielle Greene and Vernon Landry. Thank you for believing it what we have built. These people have gone above and beyond what should be expected from coaches. They have bought into what I believe can be accomplished by a youth recreation sports program. They have emotionally invested themselves into the children of this community and have proven that a united community can accomplish anything.
So what do you say at the end of such an amazing journey?
What do you say after completing something so life changing?
What do you say after watching someone laying it all out on the line for you?
The only two things that come to mind are thank you and I love each and everyone of you.

Written by Darryl Richardelle, who is a Louisiana high school football official, free-lance writer, & occasional contributor to the Abbeville Meridional.

Rule changes occur every year in high school football. Most of the time these changes concern things like penalty enforcement and uniform requirements which aren’t noticeable to most fans. This year, however, there are three significant changes that fans will notice.
Onside kicks, blocking techniques, and intentional grounding are all being affected by the 2017 rules adjustments.
Before I explain these changes, it’s important to remember that all rules and penalties exist primarily for a couple of reasons: to keep someone from getting an unfair advantage over his opponent and to keep anyone from getting injured.

Pop-Up Kicks are now Illegal

We’ve all seen onside kicks where the kicker kicks the top of the ball driving it off of the tee and immediately into the ground. This would cause the ball to fly high into the air in hopes that the kicking team will catch or recover it once it has gone the required ten yards. In an effort to protect members of the receiving team who would be waiting for the ball to come down, this type of kick is now illegal. If the kicking team executes this type of kick, the ball will be immediately blown dead; they will be penalized five yards and have to re-kick.
If the kicking team wishes to attempt an onside kick, the ball must be kicked along the ground. The bouncing motion combined with the shape of the ball and its pointed ends may cause the ball to bounce up, but it will not go nearly as high. The rule change is designed to eliminate the extremely high pop-up kicks coming directly off of the tee which pose a risk to the receiving team.

Blind Side Blocks are now illegal

In the past, a defensive player who would be pursuing the ball carrier in the open field would be susceptible to full-speed hits he may not see coming. For example, a defensive player who’s chasing the ball carrier to his forward-right with his focus of attention to his forward-right would not be able to see a blocker coming from his forward left, so he would not be able to brace himself for the impact. That blocker would then be able to lay a shoulder into that defensive player knocking him to the ground and drawing “Ooohs” and “Aaahs” from the crowd. That block will now draw a fifteen-yard personal foul penalty assessed against the offense from what is called the basic spot which is the spot of the foul or where the run ends, whichever is further back.
Because of the rule change, that blocker will now have to extend his arms out and make initial contact with his hands. This will lessen the impact on the defender and reduce the number of high speed collisions in the open field.

Out-of-Pocket Protection for Quarterbacks

If you watch football on television, you’ll often hear announcers say something like, “He was out of the pocket when he threw that one away. No intentional grounding.” This stipulation has never applied to high school quarterbacks. If a prep QB threw the ball into an area unoccupied by an eligible receiver, he was flagged for intentional grounding, no matter where he was on the field.
Beginning this year in Louisiana, quarterbacks may throw the ball away to avoid being sacked as long as two stipulations are met.
The first stipulation is that he is out of the tackle box, more commonly referred to as “the pocket.” This is an imaginary box that runs along the offensive line from tackle to tackle, and backwards towards the quarterback’s own end zone. If he is out of this imaginary box, he may throw the ball away without penalty.
The second stipulation is that the thrown ball must reach the line of scrimmage or the line where the ball was snapped. It doesn’t matter if the ball is inbounds or out of bounds, so long as it flies to at least the line of scrimmage.
If either of these stipulations are not met, the offensive team will be penalized five yards from where the quarterback threw the ball and suffer a loss of down.
This “out-of-pocket” rule is being tested only in Louisiana for 2017. At the end of the season, evaluations regarding this rule will take place, and a decision will be made as to whether or not the rest of the country will join in or if Louisiana will revert back to the previous rule.
Other, less noticeable rules changes for 2017 include:
• the ban of commercial advertising on footballs.
• the jersey of the home team shall be a dark color clearly contrasting to the white jersey required for the visiting team. (mandatory by 2021)
• the offended team has the option to start the clock on the snap for an accepted penalty inside the last two minutes of either half.
All rules are set forth by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). The NFHS is the rules governing body of scholastic sports across America.