ST. MARTINVILLE — St. Martinville is ready to accept a new challenge in 2019 when the Tigers move to 3A and take on a drove of opponents they've got almost no history with.
"Me and (Stephen) Lotief, we coached together for a long time. When we were at Northside he was the offensive coordinator, I was the defensive coordinator," Vincent DeRouen said of Kaplan's head coach. "We worked years together and are good friends. But other than that, we're not familiar with any other teams."
The Tigers drop down to 3A, joining district 6-3A alongside teams like Kaplan and Crowley.
"There is the unknown," said DeRouen, "but we welcome the opportunity."
In 2018 St. Martinville won it's first 12 games, before being upset in the quarterfinals by Leesville. The Tigers outscored opponents by nearly 300 points. But repeating that success this season will be more difficult.
The offense alone lost five all-district players including all-state running back Travian Benjamain, and quarterback Markavon Williams, and apparently finding a good quarterback these days has been more difficult that coach imagined.
"To be honest with you, none of them really want to be the quarterback," DeRouen said. "We have some good athletes and we're just trying to rotate them in and out. They all want to be receivers and running backs. But by demand we need someone to play quarterback."
2018 Record: 12-1
District: 6-3A
Head Coach: Vincent DeRouen
Other Notes: Move down to 3A, after deep 4A playoff run in 2018