Barbe, Acadiana clash with district title, high power ranking at stake

It will likely decide a district championship. It could very well decide a top-seed in the Class 5A playoffs.

The stakes will be high when Barbe travels to Scott to take on Acadiana Friday night at Bill Dotson Stadium.

Both Barbe and Acadiana enter the contest with identical 4-0 records, including 1-0 in District 3-5A.

Acadiana Rams Head Coach Ted Davidson understands the hype surrounding the contest.

“Because we are both undefeated, this is a big game,” Davidson said. “The Bucs are a good football team that can really score points.”

The numbers back up Coach Davidson’s concern. In their four wins, Barbe has score 40 or more points in every game, and twice the Bucs scored over 55 points, averaging 50 points per game.

“They are absolutely for real,” Davidson said. “While their offense is outstanding, their defense is good, very aggressive as well.”

Bucs Head Coach Mike Cutrera has a high powered offense, but, maybe the surprise is the stingy defensive play so far this year. Cutrera guided the Bucs to the Class 5A state title game in 2012.

Cutrera’s defense will have to deal with the Wreckin’ Ram veer offense… that isn’t to shabby, this season either… steadily adding to the offensive output for the Rams.

Acadiana put up 56 last week in a win over New Iberia. Davidson realizes that is probably not going to happen against a well coached Barbe team.

“We know their defense will present problems,” Davidson said. “We will have to execute to be able to move the ball and score with any consistency.”

There is one area Davidson knows will have to change if his Wreckin’ Rams are going to emerge victorius.

“We have had way too many penalties, including last week,” Davidson said. “We have to cut down on those and we must eliminate mistakes. We simply cannot turn the ball over and expect to beat Barbe.

It will be balanced if the Rams are able to clean up some of the penalty issues, they’ve had in the first four weeks. Coach Davidson says, “We had to many penalties, last week. And we can’t turn the ball over versus Barbe.”

If this year’s matchup is anything like the last five meetings, it should be another instant classic. Acadiana has won three of the last five games, which were decided by a grand total of 15 points.

Acadiana won last year’s meeting 28-27 in a thriller. The Wreckin’ Rams won 41-35 in 2015. Barbe won 17-14 in 2014. Acadiana won 35-33 in 2013. The Bucs won 31-28 in 2012.

In the most recent LHSAA Class 5A power ratings, Acadiana is second, behind Covington, while Barbe is fifth. Acadiana is second while Barbe is sixth in the most recent unofficial power ratings from LouisianaSportsline.com.

Kickoff time is 7 p.m. with a huge crowd expected.