Patriots want to finish in 2018
September 6, 2018
Terriers hope experience breeds success
September 6, 2018
The Covenant Christian Academy football program is still in its infancy.
The school just started playing games in 2010 and the team got into the Louisiana High School Athletic Association even later than that.
But the Lions sure don’t show their youth. Recent results show that a winning tradition has been created — one which the team hopes to carry again into this fall.
The Lions lost a multi-player senior group last season, which is sort of a big deal to a program that only has a limited number of kids.
But even with the departures, coach Randy Boquet said the team has enough back to continue the program’s growth.
“You know, we’ve been just so blessed here,” Boquet said earlier this offseason. “People outside the area see postseason appearances and district championships and all of these things and they just assume that we’ve been here for the test of time. But we haven’t. We’re still building. We’ve been blessed with a great group of kids and coaches and we’ve worked hard enough to have had some success. It’s just been a great thing and we hope to continue it again this season.”
The Lions have experienced returnees on both sides of the ball.
Quarterback Nicholas Lagendyk is back and he has multiple years of experience running the Lions’ complex Wing-T alignment.
“That experience is just huge for us,” Boquet said.
The weapons around Lagendyk are pretty nice, too.
Halfback Channing Holloway is back, as is Anthony Ruffin — a one-two punch that is as good as any in the area.
Ruffin is generating collegiate interest from several programs after having a productive summer on the recruiting circuit.
Holloway is tough, quick and elusive with the ball in his hands.
“I think one of the keys to our offense is that defensively, if you make a mistake, we have a chance to penalize you pretty heavily and turn it into a big play,” Boquet said. “We make opponents play I guess what they call assignment football. And if someone defensively misses on their assignment, we’re fortunate enough to have some pretty heavy hitters who are able to get big chunks of yardage for us on offense.”
Piecing together a serviceable offensive line in a run-heavy offense with limited numbers is always a challenge, but Boquet said he likes his guys up front this fall, though he concedes that the group will be a work in progress.
Defensively, CCA should be quick and aggressive — assuming the team keeps enough juice in the tank throughout games.
A byproduct of being a Class 1A school, the Lions ask a lot of their offensive players to double as defenders, meaning that some of the team’s top guys may play every, single snap on a Friday night in the fall.
Where Lagendyk is a polished, skilled quarterback, he’s also a spot ball-hawking safety for CCA.
In addition to being touchdown scoring halfbacks, Holloway and Ruffin are also skilled defenders.
Holloway is one of the team’s top linebackers, while Ruffin works as a leader in the secondary.
Boquet said he preaches to his team throughout the school week that hydration is key, urging players to take in a gallon of water a day — if not more — to keep up.
But the coach also added that the key to coaching at CCA is to work smarter, not necessarily longer, adding that games can be won or lost during the week if one is not careful.
“We have to always balance all of those things,” Boquet said. “As a coach, I would love to be on the practice field for hours — working on every personnel group and every rep and all of those things. But we have to be smart. We have to preserve our energy and make sure to make everything we do count.”
The company the Lions keep is no joke.
District 8-1A is brutal, featuring state powerhouses/title contenders like Varnado and West St. John. And that’s not even mentioning the annual Week 10 rivalry game with Houma Christian.
Boquet said the challenges CCA face are stiff, but if they can endure them, they will be ready for the Division IV Playoff Bracket — a place the team has been several times in the past few seasons.
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