Pine is back home tonight, hosting Archbishop Hannan as both teams are looking to get their first District 7-2A victories this season.

Pine comes in with a 3-2 overall record and an 0-2 record in district play.

The Raiders enter this week at No. 8 in the unofficial Class 2A power points ratings.

Last week, the Raiders lost a tough contest to Northlake Christian School, 22-17.

“We’ve just been focused on fixing the little mistakes that have been killing us the last two weeks. Hannan’s a good team, but we need to focus on ourselves,” Pine coach Bradley Seal said.

Last week, the Raiders missed out on three scoring opportunities with the ball inside of the Wolverines’ 10-yard line. Two were caused by fumbles. The other was at the end of the first half. The Raiders tried a sneak on first down, but were penalized five yards. They spiked it after the penalty for second down, but got sacked on second and the clock ran out before they could get a third-down play off.

The Raiders turned the ball over three times on fumbles. Although Northlake Christian did not score on any of the turnovers, the miscues kept Pine from putting points on the board.

“Just little mistakes in the red zone was the difference between being 4-1 and 3-2,” Seal said. “Just little mistakes that need to be fixed.”

Jakyran Handy ran for 101 yards last week. Jarwin Jordan finished with 26 yards on the ground and he scored a touchdown.

The other touchdown came when Brendon Kelley recovered a ball that was fumbled backwards, and took it into the end zone for six points.

Quarterback Joey Seal threw for 99 yards and ran for 11 yards.

Chris Gordon caught four passes for 50 yards. Kaz Warren had two catches for 47 yards and Damarea Odom had a reception for two yards.

Pine stayed in the game thanks to its defense. Northlake Christian’s 22 points scored last week broke a three-game streak for the Raiders of not allowing an opponent to score 20 or more points.

Hannan won last year’s contest, 27-13.

The Hawks, who are 19th in the Division III power ratings, enter this week with a 1-4 overall record and an 0-2 record in district play. Last week, Hannan lost to St. Helena College & Career Academy, 46-0. St. Helena (5-0), which is fifth in the Class 2A power ratings, has not allowed a point in four games played. Their opener was a forfeit win over Amite.

Hannan coach Scott Wattigny said that this is a big week for his team.

“We’re halfway through the season with five games left,” Wattigny said. “We’re trying to put our best foot forward. We’ve had two games we were close, and lost by a combined three points (a 13-12 loss to Covenant Christian Academy and a 15-13 loss to St. Thomas Aquinas). That would change our outlook on the season. We’re looking at this as a new season, moving past the 1-4 start. We’re 0-0 in the second half, trying to get 1-0.”

Wattigny said Hannan is going with a two-quarterback system with Timmy McDonald and Christopher Rabensteiner. McDonald was the starter, but got hurt in the second week and is returning this week. Rabensteiner, who was the middle linebacker, has been at quarterback the past three weeks.

McDonald will start and Rabensteiner will play middle linebacker. Rabensteiner will also see time at quarterback depending on the defense and what the Hawks are trying to do offensively.

The receiving group includes Seth Caillouet, Brock Schultis, Jacob Gaude, Justin Wendt and David Witte.

Wattigny said the Hawks’ top defenders are safety Schultis, linemen Caillouet and Carter Georges, and linebackers Devin Heinz, Austin Fontenot and Zack Easterling.