Bayou catching up to River in 2018 football season

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Our local Class 5A football district is a bear.

Coaches in the area jokingly call it the SEC West because every, single week, a team within the league is asked to face a foe with multiple college-level players, including several guys who often are in possession of scholarship offers to some of the top programs in the country.

For years, Bayou teams struggled to find firm footing in the Bayou/River-based league and in head-to-head matchups over the past 15-20 years, the River teams have a lopsided record of success.


But in 2018, the Bayou is fighting back and showing that they, too, can play football at a high level.

Local coaches praised the area’s 5A district this week, touting that the league is a weekly grind — one of the most challenging slates in the state.

But at press-time, it’s not only the River teams doing the barking, as Terrebonne is sitting at 7-0 with victories over both Hahnville and East St. John. H.L. Bourgeois also owns a win over East St. John and both Central Lafourche and Thibodaux would be in the playoffs if they started today, though the teams will have to endure tough finishes to the season to secure their spots.


“I think the really good bayou teams always have a shot if they stay healthy,” Terrebonne coach Gary Hill said. “We don’t have the depth they have out there. So we can’t afford to take on the nicks and bruises that they can over the course of the season. But if you look back, Thibodaux has had some success against those guys in the past few years when they’ve stayed healthy. Central Lafourche has had their moments, as well. This year, so far, we’ve been the same. I think it’s doable. Our margin of error is just thin.”

Local coaches say the advantage on the River is greater than just depth.

Former South Lafourche and current Cecilia head coach Dennis Skains coached in the 5A district for a handful of seasons while with the Tarpons — before South Lafourche moved down to Class 4A.


Skains said all of the coaches in the district are good — that’s a given.

But when dealing with the River Parish opponents, Bayou schools are at a bit of a competitive advantage because St. Charles Parish is one of the highest-paying school districts in Louisiana for teacher pay and coaching stipends. Athletic budgets are also bigger, which means that the best candidates apply for those jobs, which make teams schematically sound.

“They have a great pay system there and they have much larger coaching staffs,” Skains said. “A team here may have 9 or 10 coaches — not that there’s anything wrong with that. But out there, they may have two guys working with each position group. The more time the kids get to spend with their coaches and the more coaching they get, the better the execution will be on Friday night — especially with the amount of kids they have there.”


That last part was a big piece of what Hill mentioned when asked about the gap between the Bayou and River opponents.

Hill said the River teams have depth and the reason why they have that depth is because of their numbers. He said that Hahnville and Destrehan each have multiple feeder schools, while Terrebonne, Thibodaux, H.L. Bourgeois and other local programs have a far shallower pool to pick from.

“They may get 15-20 linemen a year coming into their program and we might get five or six,” Hill said. “Over the long haul, that adds up. They have more kids to develop and work with and that bleeds onto the field on Friday nights.”


Thibodaux coach Chris Dugas and Central Lafourche Keith Menard also have chimed in on the issue several times over the past few years, citing facilities and other factors that give those teams a little bit of a leg up on the competition.

But lately, that gap has closed.

Thibodaux has fought tooth and nail for district titles in the past 5 years, beating everyone on the river except Destrehan, who has long been their nemesis. Central Lafourche also has wins against Hahnville and East St. John under their belts under longtime coach Keith Menard.


Perhaps the most promising threat to win the league is the 2018 Terrebonne team, which sits at 7-0 and is a wrecking ball.

The Tigers are dominant offensively and defensively both, averaging more than 40 points per game, while allowing less than 10.

Offensively, Terrebonne has weapons with Keshawn James, Jakhi Douglas and Chaz Ward serving as threats to take it to the house on any given play.


But what makes Terrebonne tick is its defense, which hands the ball back to its offense time-in and time-out throughout games, while also forcing turnovers.

Hill said Terrebonne’s defense is the unsung hero of the season so far — a group that was hungry to take the field in 2018 after having a few rough games last year.

If the Tigers don’t allow big points to an opponent, it’s very likely that Terrebonne will find enough big plays to score points on their own.


At press-time, the Tigers are ranked in the Top 5 in the Class 5A power ranking projections and the team has eyes on taking things one week at a time, while also shooting for the biggest goal possible.

“We want to make it to the Dome,” Douglas said in preseason. “Our first goal is to make the playoffs, then to win district, then to win a playoff game. But after that, we think we can take it all the way and fight to the Dome.”

Central LafourcheCINDY MORRIS PHOTOGRAPHY


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