Ellender looking to make magic happen again in 2017

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Last year was a pretty magical year for the Ellender football team – a playoff season which re-ignited excitement about the sport at a basketball-heavy school.

But a lot of the key players off that team are gone and several are now preparing to play college football.

With a new cast of characters, but the same passion and energy spilled over from last year, the Patriots’ goal is to keep the momentum rolling.

Expectations are still high at Ellender, even after losing several playmakers off last year’s team.

Second-year coach David McCormick concedes the departures will hurt – especially early in preseason practices.

But he believes the team has enough left in its locker room to make waves in a brutally tough District 7-4A which also features two-time defending district champion Assumption, Vandebilt, South Lafourche and now also E.D. White.

“Last year was a great year for us,” McCormick said. “I think it’s a testament to the kids. You can say you’re going to change things and you can put in a new philosophy. But if they don’t buy in, it’s not going to happen as quick as you want it to. From the first day we got here, the kids have worked hard and have been receptive to what’s going on. We inherited a great senior group, which helped. Now, those guys are gone, but I think the underclassmen from last year who were here for the ride will pick up and still keep us going in the right direction. Winning is contagious. We tasted it and now, the kids don’t want to go back to where we were before again.”

The Patriots were dynamite offensively in 2016.

With Colby Poe under center and Davontavean Martin, Richard Green and others on the edges making plays, the Patriots were able to hang crooked numbers on opponents throughout the season.

But Poe is gone to graduation. So, too, are Martin and Green – both off to the college level.

But the cupboard is hardly bare.

McCormick said this year’s Ellender team will also have its share of skill players – led by halfback Reginald Williams, who was one of the area’s leading rushers last season.

The coach said Kobe Hartman is also likely to be a big-play threat – especially in the red-zone. Hartman is 6-foot, 4-inches and has great leaping ability. The coach said Brisson Lewis is capable of controlling the edges with his quickness and speed.

“We have guys who can make plays,” McCormick said. “We still have a lot of guys who like to have the ball in their hands – kids who are capable of doing some special things once they’re in space.”

But for all the skill the Patriots have, their best all-around football player is likely a senior who has been part of the program since his freshman year.

That would be senior J’Amire Mott, who doubles as a linebacker and short-yardage halfback for the Patriots.

McCormick said Mott, a multi-year starter, is the heart and soul of the Patriots team.

Mott is receiving interest from universities around the Southeast. He’s expected to be a signee at the end of the season.

“J’Amire is built like a bowling ball,” McCormick said. “But he’s really athletic. He’s actually one heck of a player on our basketball team. He’s one of those guys who always finds a way to the football and always gets himself to where the action is. He’s a great tackler and he’s pretty gifted with the football, as well. He’s a tough, physical runner – especially late in the game when the defense is a little bit tired.”

But for all the attention the Patriots’ skill players get, McCormick said it’s actually the team’s play at the line of scrimmage, which has sparked the turnaround.

When McCormick took the Ellender job, he identified several things which needed to change for the Patriots to be an annual contender.

Near the top of that list, according to the coach, was improved play along both the offensive and defensive lines – areas where the Patriots have historically struggled.

In 2016, the Patriots weren’t perfect up front, but they were far improved.

McCormick said he credits his assistant coaches for that success, touting that they’ve worked tirelessly to push players in the weight-room and on the practice field to make them bigger, faster and stronger.

“We needed to be better at the line of scrimmage – there’s no question,” McCormick said. “That’s an area that has been a problem for Ellender for a long time. We needed to be better in our blitz pick-ups. We were really bad at that before. When I was watching film of them – both when I took the job and also when I was watching film as an assistant at South Terrebonne, I said to myself that that was an area that needed to be fixed. We weren’t perfect. Some teams did some things that fooled us. But we were better and we want to be even more improved this season.”

The Patriots will be stiffly challenged in 2017.

In addition to the district schedule, Ellender will face Terrebonne, Grace King, H.L. Bourgeois and Central Lafourche in non-district play.