The Northshore Panthers open the season tomorrow night on the road and take on East Jefferson’s Warriors with kickoff scheduled for 7 at Joe Yenni Stadium.

NHS was supposed to start the year last Friday in the “Spanther Bowl” against Salmen at Northshore, but Hurricane Gustav forced the cancellation of that match up and East Jefferson’s home contest against Bonnabel.

Northshore third-year coach Mike Bourg said not getting last week’s game in was a setback for his club.

Northshore running back Channing Wise breaks through the line and tries to break a tackle during a scrimmage earlier this season against Belle Chasse at NHS. (File Photo by Chris Kinkaid)

“We’ve got some young kids, and getting a weekend of practice in a game would have helped,” Bourg said. “We didn’t get to play a good team in Salmen, and I wanted to see how they would react to it. They’ve got some good athletes and are well coached.”

This week, Northshore will be facing a team that is coming off a 2-8 season with the two victories coming against teams that combined for a 1-19 record.

The squads met last year ,and Northshore won 26-14.

Both teams played in jamborees two weeks ago. Northshore beat Salmen, 16-12. East Jefferson, which has just 44 players on its roster, lost 32-0 against Brother Martin in a game the Warriors committed six turnovers in the first half. East Jefferson was playing without several starters, who evacuated for Hurricane Gustav. With that knowledge and East Jefferson having a new coach in Dominic Saltaformaggio, Bourg said it’s tough to judge the Warriors based on the tape he has.

“We’re a little nervous. We don’t know much about East Jefferson. Because of the storm, we didn’t swap much film, and they had seven starters that that didn’t play in the jamboree, so we’re going in a little blind,” Bourg said.

Saltaformaggio said his goal is to continue to improve by the Warriors District 9-4A opener.

“Our whole focus is to get better and be ready for Pearl River,” Saltaformaggio said. “We’re working from the ground up. East Jefferson has a good football tradition. We’re trying to change the mindset of losing. We’re in a series of tough times we have to get through.”

The Panthers will run a spread offense. In its jamboree win, Northshore was playing without three starting wide receivers in senior Andrew Cossé, junior Adam Chopin and sophomore Breck Kline. Chopin is questionable, but Chopin will return. Whether or not he can go, Bourg said senior Ben Cardon will see playing time.

The Panthers offense is led by junior quarterback Jervious Epherson. In the jamboree, Epherson had 224 yards of total offense (132 passing, 92 rushing), while adding two touchdowns, one through the air and one on the ground.

His passing score was to his main target, senior wide receiver Archie Ambo on a 45-yard strike.

Northshore’s running back is senior Channing Wise.

The Panthers will be facing a defense that features an eight-man front, but will vary. East Jefferson bases out of the 3-4.

Coach Saltaformaggio, who is in his third head coaching stint after stops at Chalmette and Oconee in Athens, Ga., said sophomore safety Aaron Luke is his best defensive player. He described Luke as a physical player, who plays every down like its his last. He also said Luke has a desire to be successful.

Northshore’s defense will be taking on an offense that has changed from the Wing-T to a one-back zone style.

In the jamboree, the defense played well. The unit gave up two touchdowns, but on short scoring drives of 35 and 25 yards.

East Jefferson’s quarterback is sophomore Jared Lewis, who is in his first year of playing varsity football. Coach Saltaformaggio said Lewis is a winner.

Last year, Lewis showed off how athletic he is by finishing seventh in the state in the 110-meter hurdles (16.21).

Junior Anthony Holmes, a transfer from Sarah T. Reed, is the Warriors’ running back.