Little brother sparks success

When South Lafourche sophomore halfback Corbin Allen heard his bedroom door open in the early-morning hours of Aug. 8, he immediately knew something was wrong.

“I was sound asleep. I was knocked out,” Corbin remembers. “When my grandma and grandpa came wake me up, I knew that it wasn’t too good.”

The young man’s instincts were right. But the news was even worse than he expected that it’d be.

Corbin’s big brother Tarpons senior quarterback Harvey Allen had been a passenger in a car wreck that occurred on the Bourg-Larose Highway.

Harvey was severely injured in the one-car crash. He was in the process of being rushed to a New Orleans hospital for treatment when Corbin found out the news.

“I thought it was a dream,” Corbin said. “I’m sitting in my bed thinking, ‘Will I wake up? There’s no way this really has happened.’”

It did. Harvey suffered a fractured pelvis and a punctured bladder in the crash. His once-promising senior season on the field was washed off the board before it ever started. The Tarpons are now eight games into their season and Harvey still hasn’t played a snap as he recovers from his injuries.

But as Corbin and family rushed to Harvey’s aid on the early-morning hours of that night this family will never forget, the brothers were able to briefly communicate and share a moment together.

The words were soft, but powerful. They still linger in Corbin’s mind today – now three-plus months later.

“I told him, ‘I’ll be OK. But I need you to get on that field and dominate,’” Harvey said. “I told him that he needs to make big things happen.”

Little brother has listened to big brother in a big way.

Corbin Allen has been one of the driving forces behind the Tarpons’ offensive success – one of the true workhorse halfbacks in the Houma-Thibodaux area. Through eight games, the younger Allen has rushed for close to 1,000 yards and has more than a dozen touchdowns. He is one of the biggest reasons behind South Lafourche’s 5-3 start to the season and unblemished 3-0 mark in district play.

“I’m so proud of him,” Harvey said. “He’s playing good. He’s playing with intensity. Last year, he played as a freshman, but he was known as my little brother. Now, he’s not. He’s his own player now. He’s stepped out and done his thing.”

“We rely on him heavily to get tough, hard-fought yardage,” South Lafourche coach Dennis Skains added. “He’s a quiet kid. He’s got an even keel. He’s never too up and never too down. He shows up to work every day, and he’s really someone that’s doing a great job for us this year.”

ALLEN BOYS ARE LIFELONG ATHLETES

“We used to always play around,” Harvey remembers of his childhood.

“Sports,” Corbin adds quickly. “We always played sports. That’s just what we did.”

The Allen brothers are two years apart – Harvey, naturally, the elder of Corbin.

Harvey has been a premier, high-level standout athlete his whole life. You name it, Harvey was able to do it. He exceled in Biddy Basketball and any youth sport he picked up as a child.

Because of that success, Corbin sometimes fell on the backburner, even though he, too, has always been a standout performer at anything he’s played.

“He was always quiet,” Harvey said. “I think because of that, sometimes people didn’t notice him. But I always knew he was talented. We grew up together, and he played with me every day. I always knew that if we stuck together, we’d both have a chance to be special, because we’re both blessed.”

Everything fell in line perfectly.

Harvey got to South Lafourche and was an instant sensation. He was a contributor to the Tarpons as a sophomore, playing some receiver, defensive back and occasionally quarterback – the position that Allen became known for playing last season.

As a junior in 2014, Allen was a dual threat, both rushing and passing for more than 700 yards, contributing to 21 touchdowns on a team that reached the Class 5A State Playoffs.

But while Harvey got a lot of the shine and headlines, Corbin quietly did his thing, too. As a freshman halfback in the offense, the little brother emerged heavily in the back half of the season and accumulated a few 100-yard games.

“I was coming up as a senior, and he was breaking out,” Harvey said. “It was supposed to be our year together in the backfield in 2015.”

The wreck changed that.

But in the process, it showed the Houma-Thibodaux area the depth of talent that exists in the South Lafourche locker room.

NO-NAME OFFENSE LEADS CHARGE

“He doesn’t look like a football player,” Skains said with a laugh while sitting in his office watching tape. “He’s short, skinny. What’s he weigh? 120 pounds soaked and wet? But he gets the job done. He can do anything you ask.”

Skains is taking a sarcastic tone when speaking, but his description isn’t too far off.

Since Harvey’s wreck, the Tarpons’ offense has had to completely change its approach, turning to some previously unknown players who are suddenly becoming household names locally.

Instead of Harvey under center, the Tarpons have turned to Jaydon Cheramie – an athletic player, but a guy who had no varsity quarterback experience prior to the season.

Cheramie struggled early in the year, but has been more than serviceable lately. He’s completed 53-of-106 passes for 718 yards, eight touchdowns and five interceptions. He’s rushed for 589 yards and 11 touchdowns.

“I knew Jaydon could do that,” Harvey said. “I never doubted his ability – not one bit.”

In the receiving corps, South Lafourche has relied on veterans like Shak Dillon and Larry Mack, but the bell cow in recent weeks has been Kyle Angeron – the guy Skains is joking about in his statements above.

Angeron is listed at 5-feet, 8-inches and 120-pounds on the Tarpons roster. He has long, shaggy blonde hair that peeps through his helmet. To the average player on the field, it doesn’t appear that Angeron would be capable of having success at this level. But he’s been red-hot in recent weeks, owning 15 catches for 205 yards and three touchdowns on the season – including one in Thursday night’s rout of Ellender, which was the Tarpons’ third-straight win.

“We joke about Kyle’s size, but he’s a heck of a player and a heck of a kid,” Skains said. “He’s shifty, fast and quick. In open field, it’s not easy to get a beat on him and bring him down.”

And, of course, in the running game, Corbin is doing his thing. The halfback has rushed for 922 yards and 10 touchdowns on the season.

He’s also caught 14 passes for 115 yards and a score in the team’s receiving game, which has emerged heavily in the past few weeks.

But even that effort isn’t created alone. Corbin said his success is in large part of his offensive line, which has battled injuries throughout the season, but is starting to gel.

“Without them, I don’t have any touchdowns,” Corbin said. “Without them, I am not doing this interview for this recognition today.”

Wrap it all up and you have a team that is peaking at the right time of the season. South Lafourche is 5-3, and has won three-straight. Since district play has started, the Tarpons have outscored foes 114-47.

Corbin said he knew it all along. He said as soon as he found out that his brother was OK, he shifted his attention to carrying the load.

Harvey knew it, too. He said it pains him to not be out there with his teammates, but he said he never doubted his little brother or his teammates – not for one second.

“They’re playing like Tarpons,” Harvey said. “It’s tough to beat that.” •

CASEY GISCLAIR | THE TIMES