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Last year, the South Terrebonne starting lineup was loaded with seniors. The Gators rode that experience to a dominant 11-win season, which included a berth in the Class 4A State Quarterfinals.
But this year all of those senior players are gone, and the Gators are starting with a blank slate in their efforts to get back to postseason play.
Youth, inexperience and patience are the themes of the season for South Terrebonne football – a team that returns just five total starters off last year’s squad.
Longtime coach Richard Curlin said the Gators will have several sophomores in the starting lineup and maybe even a few freshmen. The coach said the goal is to have South Terrebonne ready to peak by district play.
“In high school football, you get waves of talent. It happens at every school,” Curlin said. “For us, last year’s wave of talent has reached the beach, and it did a lot of great things before getting there. But for us, now we’re back at sea looking to do it again.”
Offensively, the Gators depth chart has been turned inside-out with the entire fleet of skill guys gone to graduation and/or transfer and just two total starters back from last year’s group.
One of the many new starters will be at quarterback. Curlin said South Terrebonne will turn to Chris Duplantis under center – a senior who was an All-District linebacker last season for the team.
Curlin said that the new quarterback has looked good throughout the offseason, adding that he’s one of the best athletes on the team.
His teammates said things that are similar to Curlin’s sentiments, adding that he will be a competitor on the football field.
Duplantis said he played quarterback throughout his childhood, and isn’t a stranger to the position.
“He’s going to be fine,” offensive lineman Spencer Dupre said. “He’s a good quarterback. I have faith in him, and he fits our system really well. Our team has his back, and he knows that.”
In the offensive trenches, Dupre is a returning starter and so is senior tight end Max Landry — the lone returnees on that side of the ball.
In the backfield, Curlin said the Gators will rely on some guys to play both ways. All-District senior defensive back Brett Franks will see time at halfback, as will All-District defensive tackle Louis Blanchard, who is expected to see reps at fullback in the Gators Wing-T system.
“I think our offense has looked pretty good so far,” Franks said. “We’re not where we want to be just yet, but I think we have guys who can make plays.”
“I think a lot of our skill guys were ready to play last year, but just didn’t get the chance because of how talented we were,” Duplantis added. “I think that a lot of people outside of our locker room are focusing on the players we don’t have anymore, but we trust what is still here to get the job done.”
Defensively, the Gators return just four players, but the ones that are back are really, really good.
In the trenches, Blanchard is back, and will be a sledgehammer for opponents to deal with. The 6-foot, 4-inch, 265-pound mammoth was the District Defensive MVP last season, and Curlin said he expects something similar again this year.
“He’s a load,” the coach said. “He’s definitely not an easy guy to block down there.”
Also returning is Franks, who is one of the top defensive backs in our area, as well as linebacker Kaleb Voisin.
Linebacker and one of the Gators captains Dominick Naquin said that South Terrebonne is young, but preseason camp has shown that the team can enjoy success – assuming that the team’s inexperienced players get the bugs out and play without nervous energy on Friday nights.
“If we can clean up some of the little mistakes that we’ve made in our scrimmages and be more physical, then we can be a good defense,” Naquin said. “Our senior class has seen a lot here, and we believe in ourselves to keep it going for our program.”
But Curlin knows it’s going to be tough.
The Gators will face a very tough non-district slate, which includes five-straight games with Class 5A opponents – H.L. Bourgeois, Terrebonne, Central Lafourche, Dutchtown and St. Amant.
Curlin said the goal of those games is to get the Gators ready for district. He conceded that this year’s group doesn’t have the experience or name recognition as last year’s team did.
But the veteran coach also remembers a time around the 2011 and 2012 seasons when the Gators were young and inexperienced, as well. That core group of players were the players who were the seniors on 2014’s dominant team.
Curlin said he believes the cycle is starting over again in Bourg, and a new wave is beginning to garner some steam. •
