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MANDEVILLE - The Fontainebleau Bulldogs continue a course toward the high school state playoffs this week as they travel to Ponchatoula to face the Green Wave.

With a victory over Ponchatoula the Bulldogs will finish no worse than second place in District 5-5A.
It appears that the Dawgs, the district's preseason favorite, will not be able to climb any higher than second place even though they have only lost one district game. The Covington Lions are undefeated and appear to be on course to remain that way in the last two weeks of the season.

According to Fontainebleau coach Larry Favre, it doesn't matter what anybody else does, the Bulldogs must stay focused on what they must do to take care of business themselves. He reminds his team on how they faltered late last season by losing two of its last three games then losing in the their playoff game against Hahnville.

Last week the Bulldogs (6-2, 4-1) did something they had never done before, beat Slidell. The 22-16 win was not as close as the score indicated as the Bulldogs showed their bite on defense.

While that game was big, Favre is a big advocate of taking one game at a time and not making one game bigger than any other on the schedule.

For that reason he believes his team will not be subject to a letdown when it faces a less powerful team like Ponchatoula.

"You always have to guard against a letdown after any big win, and last week was a big win. This is where you get to not building any one team over another. I think that helps you from having letdowns. We do not get caught up in the neighborhood rivalry of all these games. We try to do everything the same each week, regardless of who the opponent is. Hopefully, that philosophy will prevent from having a letdown," said Favre.

Favre likes the fact that his team stands at 6-2 this year. This season is the third year in a row the Bulldogs has gone into week eight with a 5-2 record. This season is the first time Bulldogs go into week nine with a 6-2 record. He calls that progress for his team.

Favre feels that Ponchatoula (4-3, 2-3) will present problems with its defense. He feels they have very good speed. On the offensive side of the ball, he said his team must make sure the Green Wave do not eat up a lot of time off the clock with their power run, ball control game. The Bulldog defense must make sure its offense is not sitting on the bench most of the game.

Ponchatoula is hanging on for its playoff life. Sitting at No. 27 in the power ranking, the Green Wave must win at least one of its two reminding games, if not both, to remain in the top 32 to acquire a berth in the playoffs.

For the Bulldogs, life is a lot easier. Sitting at the No. 12 spot in the power rankings all but assure them a spot in the playoffs. The only questions are how high they will be seeded and will they get a home playoff game for the first time in school history.

The one area of concern for the Bulldogs is the passing game. It is an area Favre feels his team must improve on if it is to make it to the playoffs and make noise once it gets there.

It is an area the team has worked on hard this week. The ball has not been spread around as much as it possibly could be. The Bulldogs have a tight end who will be picked by some Division I colleges, but he has not seen the ball much lately.

The wide receivers are not catching many passes, and Favre feels that his team has missed on opportunities on scoring close to the goal line due to the passing game not firing on all cylinders.