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FAYETTE — The Jefferson County High School Tigers will look to end a three-game losing streak Friday night, but they will have to do so against a team they are not familiar with in the LHSAA Class 2A St. Charles Catholic High School Comets out of Laplace, La.

Kickoff between 1-0 St. Charles Catholic and 1-3 Jefferson County is set for 7 p.m. The Tigers are coming off a 45-28 loss on the road to East Marion High School in which they found themselves down 20-0 at halftime and 32-6 by the end of the third quarter.

After having their first two games cancelled due to Hurricane Ida, the Comets finally played their first game of the 2021 season last Friday night and defeated LHSAA Class 3A De La Salle High School of New Orleans, La. 3-0.

Jefferson County head coach Roderick Holmes said the Tigers need to start putting points on the scoreboard early instead of waiting until it’s too late to mount a comeback.

“Each week is almost like a new beginning. Each week we’re trying to grow in area that we haven’t grown yet. All games, we’ve been playing from behind. We’re emphasizing to the players that we cannot try to play catch up this game,” Holmes said. “Our youth, we’re not built to come from behind. I’d like for us to score early instead of late in games. We’re also putting a lot of emphasis on having fun. They’ve been playing too tense.”

Holmes said the Tigers have had a good week of practice so far. He added that looking at film from last week’s game, he and his coaching staff are trying to critique those areas where they’ve made mental lapses and mistakes.

As for what to expect from St. Charles Catholic, Holmes said his team has to be “pretty much prepared for anything.”

“Offense, they run a multiple offense. They run a lot of different sets. We’ve just to play some sound defense. Play good coverage and tackle well. Tackling has been one of our weaknesses,” Holmes said. “Defense, they look kind of big. They look like a technical team. They’ll do a 4-front sometimes and a 3-front. Looking at their game last week, it looked like they did a lot of things.”

Jermall Williams had a big game last week for Jefferson County’s defense with six tackles, one forced fumble, one tackle for a loss, and two sacks. The rest of the defense will need to have a big game if the Tigers want to get back on the winning track.

As for what concerns him the most about the Comets, Holmes said, “Not being really able to predict what’s next. Most teams we play, we have a good idea of what they do a lot. But not this team. They do a lot of different things.”

Holmes said it will take a collective team effort for the Tigers to come out victorious Friday night. Quarterback Jabari Watson will have to play better than he did last week when he was just 7-for-20 passing for 149 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Eldrin Brown was a bright spot for their offense with four catches for 108 yards and one touchdown.

“No mistakes. Got to put the points on the board with the offense. Stay away from turnovers on special teams. And almost play a perfect game, which has been hard for us to do,” Holmes said. “This is our last game before district, so it will help us out a lot.”