SEEING DAYLIGHT—Loranger’s Eric Brown (21) runs through an opening in the Lutcher defense during Tuesday’s spring scrimmage against the homestanding Bulldogs. The senior back rushed 18 times for 99 yards and two touchdowns for the Wolves. Gary Lee/TangiSports

LUTCHER—Loranger head coach Sammy Messina wanted to get an early glimpse of how his 2008 Wolves stack up against a team in the ilk of District 10-3A rivals Amite and Independence. Messina got an eyefull Tuesday night as his Loranger club scrimmaged Class 3A power Lutcher.

The Bulldogs' first-string offense scored seven times while the Wolves' first-stringers hit pay dirt three times during the scrimmage. The first-string offenses each had eight possessions against the first-string defenses.

"I think they're every bit on par with Independence and Amite, and that's one of the things we wanted to see was where we stand against teams like them," Messina said. "I was concerned with how would we execute against a quality opponent. We found out where we had to make adjustments going into next season. It was a very good gauge."

Messina said one of the main goals of the Wolves' limited spring drills was improving the running game. Loranger only practiced five times prior to Tuesday, with three other scheduled practices rained out. Early returns on making improvements looked good, despite the limited practices.

Quarterback Taylor Abdalla and running back Eric Brown combined for 277 all-purpose yards against the Bulldogs' first-team defense. Abdalla rushed for 150 yards and a score while completing one pass for 28 yards. Brown rushed for 99 yards with scoring runs of 15 and two yards. Brown also caught Abdalla's lone completion.

"We planned on implementing more of the passing game later," Messina said. "We were very pleased with what we did and what we were able to concentrate on offensively. We executed well and we were able to put together three solid drives against their No. 1 defense."

Loranger notched 12 first downs while Lutcher's first-string offense picked up 16 first downs. However, the Bulldogs' offense showed more explosiveness, converting at least one play covering 25 or more yards on each possession. Some of the explosiveness came from receiver Jarvis Landry and incoming freshman running back Daniel Taylor, who Messina said rushed for over 1,000 yards as an eighth-grader last season.

Linebacker Zachary Smith led Loranger with seven tackles while defensive back Bryan Cook notched four stops.

"They made some good plays in space," Messina said. "They beat us on the perimeter, and I knew that was a concern for us coming in because that's where we had to replace the most people. Their running back is a pretty good one. We need to work on putting ourselves in better position to make tackles."