PORT NECHES — No team in District 22-5A may be as well rested as Port Neches-Groves.

The Indians waited 12 days after their season opener to play again, and when play at Livingston on Monday night, it will be 12 days since their most recent game.

The time off has been precious. What’s coming up for the Indians (2-0, 1-0 in 22-5A) is a marathon, sort of.

“Coaches really emphasize resting up due to the hectic schedule coming up,” PNG quarterback Roschon Johnson said. “Leading up to this game, we’ll just get our rest.”

PNG will play two games in a six-day span before its season falls back to the original schedule with four Friday games and one on Thursday. After Livingston, PNG will host Baytown Lee (0-2, 0-1) for homecoming.

“It’s homecoming every year,” PNG coach Brandon Faircloth said. “Five days’ rest will be definitely new to us, and we’ve got to do a great job as coaches of getting them recovered and rested this week and making sure they’re ready for Saturday afternoon at 6 o’clock.”

Faircloth said PNG won’t practice as long this week and only watch game film, lift weights and run in its recovery from Monday’s game on Tuesday.

Rest is the keyword this weekend for the Indians. Focus will be the week coming up.

“It’s unique to this year, no doubt about that,” Faircloth said. “We’ve got to do a great job of staying focused and doing our jobs and playing hard and playing with great effort. It’ll be a challenge.”

The Indians are happy they haven’t had a loss hanging over their heads during the long breaks. Johnson said the momentum from each win has amplified the practice routines and kept the Indians game-ready.

“We take practice seriously around here,” he said. “We don’t jerk around here, even though we have a full week off before the next game. We stay focused up and practice good for each game.”

PNG has been successful because they’ve played consistently, Faircloth said, emphasizing the defensive improvements they made in the Sept. 20 blowout win over Lumberton.

“We’ve got to continue to have that kind of result from our defense and to pitch a shutout like they did, I was very proud of them,” the coach said. “I tell you what’s really worked is the senior leadership on our team. We’ve got seniors in a bunch of positions and they’ve played like I hoped they would.”

Livingston (0-3, 0-2) is trying to climb back into the district race following blowout losses to Nederland and Lumberton. Despite that, Faircloth said it’ll take PNG’s best effort to come away with the win.

Faircloth said the biggest challenge of Monday’s game is the 2-hour bus ride itself.

“I expect them to handle it very well,” Faircloth said. “We’ve had great practices. They understand how to win games. You win games in practice. It’s been a unique season so far with the amount of rest in between games, but I expect them to respond the right way and understand that the biggest game of the year is Livingston on Monday night and to treat it that way. We have to travel over there and be at our best.”
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I.C. Murrell: 549-8541. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews