Beat-up Trojans scrambling to find quarterbacks

When Central Lafourche lost its first game on Sept. 20 against Mandeville, the Trojans lost more than just a single non-district game.

They lost another quarterback to a severe injury, as well.

Now without its first-and-second-string signal callers, Central Lafourche is scrambling to find depth and quality players at arguably the most important position in all sports.

The Trojans’ first crack at life with a third string starter under center was an successful one – a 19-14 win against H.L. Bourgeois – the first game of Bayou District play.

“When it happened in the middle of the game, it was very challenging,” Trojans first-year coach Keith Menard said. “You’re saying to yourself, ‘What part of the offense can we continue to go forward with?’ and ‘Do we even have another backup quarterback?’ … We really didn’t have anybody else. We had to limit the plays that we called because if our third guy got hurt, then what? We didn’t have anyone who had taken snaps to put into the game.”

Experience at quarterback was supposed to be one of the Trojans’ strengths heading into the 2013 season.

Returning starter Luke Falgout was expected to guide the team’s offense for another season after serving as the starter one year ago.

Falgout is a dual-threat signal caller that showed the ability to hurt defenses with both his arms and legs during the 2012 season.

But those plans were derailed in the spring when Falgout suffered a season-ending injury to his leg.

“That was a big loss for us because he was experienced and he really had a grasp for what we’re looking for at the position,” Menard said this preseason. “He is a good kid and a good player. We definitely wanted him out there this year.”

“It didn’t feel good,” senior defensive lineman Garland Sylvester added. “You never want to see your starting quarterback go down before the season even starts. Luckily, we have some other good guys to play the position.”

Sylvester’s thoughts were spot-on. The Trojans did have depth at the position heading into the 2013 season.

Menard said throughout the summer that Austin Aucoin and Brader Dufrene were vying for the starting job.

Aucoin eventually was named the starter and was enjoying a nice starter to the year.

The Trojans won their first two games of the season – victories against Franklin and Clark.

But early in the game against Mandeville, Aucoin went down when he suffered a broken hand, which underwent surgery this past week.

“That’s not something we wanted to hear,” Menard said. “He’s a tough kid. It just so happened that he got dinged a little bit on the hand and it put him out for a while. It’s definitely a tough blow to our team.”

Even with Aucoin in the game, the Trojans were behind by a sizeable margin against Mandeville – a game that ended in a 56-0 margin.

But without the quarterback, the team was left scrambling its plans for the rest of the season.

Menard said Dufrene will now be the team’s starting quarterback going forward. That’s not a huge surprise given how close Dufrene was to winning the job outright this summer.

“Brader’s gotten a bunch of reps and we think he’ll be fine,” Menard said. “He’s been active every day at practice. I don’t think anything really changes with what we do. We think he can do a nice job for us.”

But while serving as the Trojans’ backup, Dufrene was also doubling as Central Lafourche’s junior varsity starting quarterback.

That obviously has changed.

Menard said the injury bug has shifted the Trojans’ batting order for the rest of the season.

The coach said he’s given several players reps at quarterback to prepare for emergency situations.

“We need to get other guys ready some kind of way,” Menard said. “What happens if Brader gets dinged up a little bit? Or what happens if his helmet comes off and he has to sit out for a play? Who’s our backup now? That’s what we have to figure out. Who’s going to be our JV quarterback? What’s going to happen there?

“It just is going to take a whole lot of work on our part to put all of the puzzle pieces back together for the rest of the season here.”

The schedule certainly isn’t going to be forgiving to the Trojans going forward.

The Trojans will travel to Reserve on Friday night to take on East St. John – a team annually loaded with athletes and an explosive offense.

From there, Central Lafourche will take on rival South Lafourche, Class 5A powerhouse Destrehan and Terrebonne – a team with only one loss on the season.

The Trojans will close the year hosting Hahnville and then traveling to Thibodaux.

Menard said that the entire district from top-to-bottom will be loaded – a challenge for a rebuilding program like Central.

But the coach added that the good news is that Aucoin may be back at some point in 2013.

His injury diagnosis is six-to-seven weeks – a timeline that could place him back in the lineup for the final few games of the season.

Menard said he hopes the quarterback is able to return because he never wants to see a senior’s career end with injury.

“It all just depends on how he heals and how his body reacts,” Menard said. “We’d love to see him back. But we’ll also do what’s best for the kid, as well.”