The Kinder Yellow Jackets are in uncharted territory.
Kinder opened up District 5-2A play on Friday with a 48-22 defeat to Rosepine, which was the first time the Yellow Jackets had fallen to the Eagles since 2012. In addition to that rare district defeat, Kinder suffered its fifth-straight defeat this season. The last time the Yellow Jackets suffered a five-game losing streak was 2008, which just so happened to be the last time the program suffered a losing season.
“Just stay the course,” Kinder longtime coach Bret Fuselier said. “We had a tough non-district schedule and then opened district with the team who was considered the favorite. We could definitely see improvement from our guys this week so we are headed in the right direction. We just have to go to work and get ready for Oakdale.”
Kinder seized control early in the first half against Rosepine.
The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a lead in the first quarter with a three-yard touchdown run by Graham Fawcett. The extra point attempt was no good. The Eagles answered early in the second with a Grant Ducote four-yard touchdown run. Like Kinder, Rosepine also missed the extra point and the game was tied 6-6.
Kinder (1-5, 0-1) would reclaim the lead in the second quarter with another short-yardage rushing touchdown by Fawcett, this one from two yards out. With Luke LeBoeuf’s two-point run, Kinder held a 14-6 lead and that’s when the game changed.
“Our offensive line did a good job of establishing the line of scrimmage from the start,” Fuselier said. “We were getting a push and our offense was doing a good job of taking what the defense was giving us. Defensively we were doing a good job of getting lined up and tackling their size.”
Rosepine responded with three touchdown drives before halftime as Ethan Frey scored a 12-yard rushing touchdown, Cole Donahue hauled in a 27-yard touchdown pass from Frey, and then Aden Cline caught a 36-yard touchdown pass from Frey.
At halftime, Rosepine led Kinder 28-14.
“We just had problems tackling their running back and quarterback,” Fuselier said. “They are big kids and we were trying to tackle them too high. On the last play of the half we had a breakdown in coverage.”
Rosepine (5-1, 1-0) padded its lead in the second half with a pair of touchdown drives in the third quarter as Ducote scored on a 67-yard run and Isiah Stinson scored on a four-yard pass from Frey.
Rosepine added a 76-yard touchdown run by Ducote before Kinder scored one last time with a five-yard touchdown run by Griffin Cooley.
“We dug ourselves too big of a hole to get out of,” Fuselier said.
The Eagles were led by Ducote who had a game-high 266 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. Frey meanwhile completed 10-of-19 passes for 149 yards, three passing touchdowns and one rushing score.
The Yellow Jackets were led by LeBoeuf’s 134 rushing yards on 12 carries.
Kinder will now look to snap its losing streak this Thursday night when it makes the short drive to take on Allen Parish rival Oakdale.
What has Fuselier’s message been this week? Improvement.
“I told them that we needed to have three good days of practice,” Fuselier said. “Watch the film from Rosepine. See what we did well and what we need to improve on.”
