Salmen heads to Metairie tonight

Salmen’s Spartans head to Metairie to take on the Riverdale Rebels in a district contest tonight at Joe Yenni Stadium.

This game has a lot of meaning, as a Spartans’ victory would give Salmen the District 9-4A title all to itself. A loss and there would be a co-district title with the winner of Pearl River and Franklinton.

Salmen (6-2) enters tonight’s action with a 4-0-district record and has won five straight games. Riverdale (3-5), which snapped a 27-game losing streak dating back to 2004 earlier this year, is 2-2 in league play.

Both teams won last week. The Spartans are coming off a big 18-13 victory over Pearl River, which gave them at least a share of the district championship. Riverdale came out victorious in its game last week, 33-21, over East Jefferson.

In last year’s meeting, the Spartans got out to a 50-0-halftime lead before winning 64-7.

Riverdale first-year coach Stuart Bott talked about the upcoming contest.

“We have to come with our game. We have to play tough,” Bott said. “We have to have all three phases of the game working.”

Offensively, Salmen runs the spread offense. Last week, sophomore Daniel Sams showed off his throwing and running ability. He hit on 6-of-14 for 165 yards and a touchdown, while carrying the ball 26 times for 108 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

His scoring strike was to senior wide receiver Isiah Tate for 18 yards. Tate caught five passes for 122 yards. He also intercepted two passes on defense. The last one came when Pearl River was attempting to mount a game-winning drive.

Defensively, Riverdale bases out of the 4-2-5. The Rebels will run different schemes off of that and send different people.

Last week, Derain Williams led the Rebels with seven tackles and two assists, while Davin Bovie recorded six stops and one assist. Gilbert Thomas filled up the stat sheet with two tackles, two for loss, two assists, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.

Offensively, Riverdale runs the pistol formation and the swinging gate. The Rebels’ senior quarterback is Antoine Williams. Last week, he had 17 carries for 99 yards, while throwing for 74 yards. Defensively, he had interception he returned 65 yards for a touchdown.

The leading receiver was Derain Williams, who had one catch for 34 yards on fourth-and-30. The running back is senior Ozzie Lennix. Against East Jefferson, he ran the ball 18 times for 114 yards and a touchdown.

Salmen’s defense runs a 3-3. The unit has been stout over the last five games, as opponents have tallied just 56 points against the Spartans during that stretch.