By Warren Arceneaux

After battling each other for the District 5-2A title the past two years, Rosepine and Kinder are keeping the series going despite the Yellow Jackets move up to Class 3A.

The Eagles (2-0) and Yellow Jackets (0-1) will play Friday night in Kinder in a nondistrict game.

Rosepine head coach Brad Ducote said continuing the series was a no-brainer.

“We wanted to keep them on the schedule for multiple reasons,” he said. “Number one being that every time you play Kinder, whether we win or lose, it makes us better as a football team. They are well coached and sound on both sides of the football. When we’re done with a Kinder game, it lets us know where we’re at.”

The Eagles are in a good place right now after opening with wins over East Beauregard and South Beauregard.

“Overall we have played well,” Ducote said. “We still have a few things to correct — a few dropped passes, the running game hasn’t been as good as we wanted it to be.

“People are loading the box and we are looking to correct some mistakes in the blocking scheme and be better against Kinder.”

New quarterback Jake Smith has been a bright spot with 469 passing yards and eight touchdowns.

“Jake has done an outstanding job, made the right reads, thrown the ball well and accurately,” Ducote said. “I could not ask more from a first-time starter. He has handled the offense very well.”

Ducote said Kinder’s offense, led by third-year starter Graham Fawcett at quarterback, concerns him.

The Jackets ran for more than 250 yards in their opener last week, with Fawcett gaining 55 and James Roberts 160 on eight carries. Each scored two touchdowns.

“Their offensive scheme is impressive,” he said. “Their quarterback and running backs do a great job of executing it. They are going to pose many problems. Hopefully we can slow them down a little.”

The Eagles defense has been dominant, allowing 13 points.

“So far we are quite a bit better up front than we had been,” Ducote said. “Our defensive front has really controlled the line of scrimmage in our first two games. That frees up our linebackers, especially Michael Woods, to roam free. He has had two good games, and the other linebacker, (Lane) Willis, played well last week.

“We were pretty solid on the back end last year. All of those kids are back and are doing a good job this year.”