By Daniel Green | BWS Sports

TIOGA — You will have to forgive Leesville head coach Robbie Causey for not being too worried about the Tioga Indians.

Even though the two teams have shared a district rivalry for many, many years, the matchup at 8 p.m. Friday night at the Tioga Jamboree isn’t about the rivalry to Causey. Instead, it’s all about the Cats.

“Right now, this week is more about us,” Causey said. “We have got to focus on our fundamentals and we need to learn to be more consistent when we have the opportunity to make plays when they are there.”

Last Friday, the Cats journeyed to Lake Charles to take on St. Louis Catholic in scrimmage action. The Cats weren’t expecting the atmosphere they encountered as St. Louis was treating the game like a regular-season outing, with coaches wearing headsets, live special teams, along with a band and cheerleaders.

Despite that, Causey felt his team got some good experience in front of a hostile crowd. This is especially good for Leesville, which graduated 25 players a season ago, most of them multiple-year starters.

“They treated it like a real game, which was a little more than we expected,” Causey said. “But we got a lot of experience for our kids, good experience at that. Plus, we were able to get some film. That was also good because we have 16 new starters and many new coaches.”

Friday’s matchup with Tioga will be much the same for the Cats as they will look to improve on last week’s outing, gaining even more experience as Leesville prepares for the season opener on Sept. 2, at home against Jennings.

At 6 p.m., the Leesville Junior High Wampus Cats will be in action at Tioga, playing in a junior high jamboree prior to the varsity teams taking to the field at around 8 p.m.

The game can be heard live on 93.5 KJAE-FM.