LOREAUVILLE — Terry Martin, the head coach at Loreauville High, was both nervous and excited on Monday.

That’s because the undefeated Class 2A No. 3 Tigers were set to resume practice on Tuesday after the team missed two weeks because of a COVID-19 outbreak.

“We’ll see how things go tomorrow,” Martin said on Monday. “Today is the last day of quarantine. While the kids were in virtual learning the past two weeks, we had an online classroom with all of our kids, but everybody didn’t participate.

“The whole thing with virtual learning is that many of our kids’ parents are working, and the kids have a hard time getting up for early classes when they’re at home. It’s pretty nerve-racking.”

The COVID-19 outbreak spread throughout the entire village of Loreauville.

“We did have cases among our players and with some of our starters,” Martin said. “COVID-19 went through the whole community and hit us all at one time. We haven’t had any cases with our players recently, though.”

Martin admitted that he was a nervous wreck during the two-week quarantine.

“It might have been the worst thing I’ve ever been through,” he said. “Coaching is a seven-day a week job during the season.

“It’s all day Saturday and into the night with preparations for your next opponent. Then it’s usually all day Sunday until 3-4 P.M. But I had nothing to do during the quarantine.”

After the Tigers downed West Saint Mary 46-6 in Week 6, the highly-anticipated Week 7 showdown with undefeated Ascension Episcopal for the District 7-2A title and a Week 8 game vs. Jeanerette were canceled.

But as it turned out, the Tigers will now host No. 30 Jeanerette (3-4) in the first round on Friday.

“During the two-week layoff, we weren’t able to plan for an opponent because we didn’t know when and who we’d be playing next,” said Martin, who is concerned that his team might need to shake off some rust vs. Jeanerette.

Last Thursday, Jeanerette lost 50-0 to Ascension Episcopal in a game that had been previously canceled because of Hurricane Delta.

“After a two-week period of inactivity, there’s a definite drop-off with conditioning,” Martin said.

“My hope is that most of our guys that play a good bit did most of the work we assigned to them, but you just can’t replicate the tempo and contact of practice and games.”

LHS junior quarterback Calep Jacob is averaging 18.6 yards per completion. His favorite target, twin brother Collin Jacob, has accounted for 80 percent of the Tigers’ receiving touchdowns.