Pearl River starts district tonight at E. Jeff

Pearl River’s Rebels will put their unblemished record on the line tonight when they travel to Metairie to take on the East Jefferson Warriors in their District 9-4A opener.

Pearl River is 4-0 this season, while East Jefferson is 1-3.

Rebel coach Joe Harris said the Warriors are a good team despite their winning percentage.

“They’ve played a tough schedule,” Harris said. “They are better than their record indicates.”

The Rebels won last season’s contest, 21-13.

Pearl River is coming off a 43-16 victory over Albany despite missing some key players, while East Jefferson lost to South Plaquemines, 49-0.

In last week’s victory, Pearl River was competing without running backs James Gillum (ankle) and Will Reed (thigh) along with Jacob Maxwell (illness), who plays safety, wide receiver, punter and returns punts.

Maxwell and Gillum are back, while Reed is still out.

Coach Harris said it will be nice having Maxwell in the lineup.

“Jacob’s a big part of this football team and we’re happy to have him back. He’s 6-4, 215 and runs a 4.6 (in the 40). He goes both ways, punts and returns punts,” Harris said.

The coach added that he’s not sure if Maxwell will play all of his positions tonight, but said Maxwell is definitely going to be playing defense.

Stepping into Reed’s position will be Kendall Twillie and Cory Miller.

Last week, Twillie stepped up his game when his team was missing Gillum and Reed, who have combined for 641 rushing yards this year. Twillie ran for 188 yards, including an 83-yard carry to pay dirt.

Defensively, he also broke up a pass in the end zone on fourth-and-goal at PRHS’ 10, to save a possible touchdown. Pearl River was leading 14-0 at the time.

Jeremiah Levy also played well for the Rebels, going for 75 yards on the ground. Also in the game, quarterback Matt Smith scored three touchdowns, all sneaks. They will be facing a defense that had its work cut out for it last week. South Plaquemines’ longest scoring drive was 35 yards. The Warriors gave up TD possessions of 12, 28, 4, a 40-yard punt return, 8, 35 and 26 yards. The unit limited South Plaquemines to 70 yards on the ground.

East Jefferson coach Nick Saltaformaggio talked about his defense.

“We’re a fair high-school defense,” Saltaformaggio said. “Even with two sophomores on the line, it’s more of a result of where drives are starting.”

His two sophomores on the defensive line are Cody O’Dell and Nick Arevelo. Saltaformaggio said his most consistent player defensively is senior inside linebacker Wesley Ladd.

Offensively, East Jefferson is a zone team. The quarterback is sophomore Jared Lewis. The running backs are Anthony Holmes, a Sarah T. Reed transfer and Stephen Lewis. Saltaformaggio said the backs will rotate.

The glaring stat for East Jefferson are the 31 combined turnovers committed by its offense and special teams.

Pearl River’s undefeated start to the season has been a complete team effort as the defense has stepped up.

The unit has allowed just 29 points this season. Albany didn’t score last week until the third quarter when the Rebels led 36-0. The other tally PRHS gave up last week was on the final play of the game.

Against Albany, the defense forced four turnovers with three interceptions and a fumble recovery. Jonathan Broom opened the scoring with a 15-yard touchdown return off a pick. Broom also contributed on special teams with a punt return to the 1, setting up a touchdown by Smith.

Senior linebacker Stephen Arthur is the team leader with 41 tackles including 23 individual stops. Last week, he was in on eight tackles, five solos and he assisted three. He also recovered his first fumble of the year.

Junior linebacker Craig Domingue is second on the squad with 40 tackles and tops the Rebels with two sacks. Junior Blake Ladner, who moved from inside linebacker to strong safety due to injuries has been in on 37 stops with 14 solo tackles and 23 assists.