Hahnville is looking to make a leap in 2025.
The Tigers went 9-3 last season, reaching round two of the playoffs before falling in a heartbreaker at Parkway, 37-31. A year prior, the Tigers returned to the playoffs after a one-year absence and fell 35-31 to Chalmette.
Tigers’ head coach Greg Boyne is leading the program as he takes the sideline for his third season as head coach, and crafted a non-district schedule meant to challenge, test and ultimately strengthen his team for that breakthrough postseason run. That begins this week as Hahnville travels to face 2025 Division II select finalist Shaw this Friday night.
Shaw enters this season looking to turn the page after an outstanding season ended in gut-wrenching fashion – a state championship victory that seemed all but sewn up instead turned into a moment of glory for St. Charles Catholic, after a late penalty helped enable the Comets’ Tyler Milioto to kick a game-winning field goal.
One would then expect a very hungry team to take the field against Hahnville – not that this will be any different from the usual mindset from a Hank Tierney-coached team. Tierney will be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame next year. He is sixth all-time in Louisiana history in regard to wins – he’s tallied 340 victories. Shaw went 9-5 overall last season and has been to the Superdome each of the past two years.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Coach Tierney. I’m very familiar with his staff and I’ve coached with some of those guys through the years,” Boyne said. “They’re sound and they’re very physical. They’ve got some big kids – and some fast kids. That’s going to be a good test. Coming off of, obviously, that state championship game, they’re going to have a chip on their shoulder coming back. They bring almost everyone back.”
Allen Shaw III returns as the team’s quarterback. He was voted MVP of the state championship game despite the loss as he accounted for three touchdowns and this will be his second year as the Eagles’ starting passer. He is among 18 starters who return from last year’s finalist. His brother, Allen Shaw V, will start at running back. Both are surrounded by a talented offensive line and pass catching corps – the latter includes Nasir Parker and Tyre Lowe, both being recruited heavily at the next level.
“They don’t run the same offense he used to do with the double-slotted veer, but what they do is a modern-day version of the triple option. The backfield is obviously good. They’re going to want to run the ball,” Boyne said.
Boyne said that the Shaw passing game runs through H-back/tight end Brandon Girod.
“He’s very athletic and they get him the ball in a variety of ways,” Boyne said.
While Shaw is a run-heavy operation, Parker and Lowe present a significant threat at wideout.
“They are ridiculously good,” Boyne said. “They each have Division I offers. (Parker) has an LSU offer,” Boyne said.
Defensively, the Eagles are expected to be very strong once again. Safety Rontrae Carter was MVP of the team’s district last season and a returning All-State player. He starts alongside a Navy committed fellow safety in Dejuan Rivera. The defensive lineup is full of three-year starters – Carter actually enters his fifth year starting, and he’s committed to TCU.
Boyne said Carter is as impressive a prep defensive player as he’s seen in quite some time.
“He may be the best I can remember,” said Boyne. “There were a couple guys from Ruston a few years ago, maybe. But he is very, very good. He’s physical. 6’1 or 6’2, 215 pounds. He doesn’t do anything that’s unsound – he’s very patient. We’ve kind of talked to our scout team guys on defense about trying to give us a look (simulating Carter). We tell them, look, he reads and reacts as good as any high school player. He keeps his feet moving and keeps his eyes where he needs to have them. He’s very disciplined in his reads.”
With four years of starting already under his belt, Carter won’t likely be surprised by anything, Boyne said.
“What hasn’t he seen by this point?” Boyne said. “You’re talking about 50, 60 games. And a lot of big postseason games. So, there’s nothing we’ll do that he hasn’t seen.”
Boyne said there’s plenty of quality football players around Carter as well.
“He’s not the only one. You know, you watch them and there’s not a lot of things where you can take advantage of it. They’ve very sound in what they do. They’re not going to give up any gaps in the run game. Coverage-wise, they’re not going to get beat deep,” Boyne said.
- JAMES 21, HAHNVILLE 7 – St. James’ Rake Lee threw a pair of touchdown passes and the Wildcats forced three Hahnville turnovers as SJH earnedthevictory over the Tigers in the preseason jamboree between the teams Friday night at Destrehan.
Lee threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Kaman Mitchell and a 70-yard touchdown to Camden Brown. Xavier Johnson ran in a 13-yard touchdown to all but put the scrimmage away in the second half.
“Obviously disappointed,” said Hahnville head football coach Greg Boyne. “We came out sharp and then fumbled. We got it back for our second time and scored. Then we fumbled – and then we fumbled. So, just ball security, lack of concentration, not doing the little things right.”
Hahnville’s lone score came on a touchdown connection between Landen Teague and Aaron Williams in the first half, Teague going over the top to find his go-to wideout for a 25-yard score.
For the Tigers, it was an uncharacteristic night of turnovers. Hahnville lost three fumbles on the night – last season, HHS fumbled just three times and lost just one fumble for the entire season.
St. James, meanwhile, has to feel good about its quarterback situation. Starter Jajuan Jackson was sidelined for the jamboree, allowing Lee to step up and play in his absence. Lee shined as he spread the ball around to the Wildcats’ playmakers.
“They didn’t have their quarterback, but it didn’t really show,” Boyne said. “They threw the ball and caught it, and made us miss. We need to tackle better and we had some missed assignments at times. But, to me, it comes down to turnovers. You can’t fumble it three times. We fumbled three times last year. So, we’ve got to hit. We’ve got to get contact (in practice). It’s not like we haven’t, but we need more of it. The fundamental things that good football teams do, we need to do.”
