Winning a state championship is a dream for many high school athletes, reality for very few.
How about four?
For Luling’s Ayden Authement, his prep career at St. Charles Catholic concluded with four successful trips to the mountaintop, including two state titles in football, where he quarterbacked the Comets, and two on the baseball diamond where he was a standout second baseman.
All four state championships came during his junior and senior seasons, as the Comets went back-to-back in both sports under head football and baseball coach Wayne Stein.
“Going into high school, I knew I wanted to win one. Winning four – that’s a blessing,” said Authement. “It starts with Coach Wayne, how he handles the program, how he pushes his kids to be as much as they can be. He’s been like a second father to me and he made me a better leader.
“I don’t know that anyone expected to go back-to-back, but we kind of figured it out and finished the job.”
Authement’s leadership certainly was of importance. His production was equally vital as he cemented a legacy at St. Charles, earning Most Outstanding Player honors in the championship games of both football and baseball during his senior year.
He recently signed to play baseball at Loyola University in New Orleans after mulling whether his athletic career would continue past SCC.
“But I knew after my last game ended, I still had more to prove to myself, more to prove to my family and my coaches,” Authement said.
He has a knack for exceeding expectations – and high ones, at that.
Authement was the fifth among his brothers to play both sports at SCC. Grant, Ross, Dane and Bryce played before him, each wearing No. 7 on the football field and No. 1 on the baseball diamond – and each helping propel St. Charles to big wins and deep playoff runs in both sports.
He was stepping in to continue a strong family legacy. Adding to that pressure, Ayden would be the first among his brothers to play quarterback at the school, a position that comes with the brightest of spotlights.
Some shrink from that, some shine – and he was very much the latter. Authement said his brothers had plenty to do with his readiness.
“When you’re the youngest, they’re always gonna pick on you and push you,” Authement said. “I know watching their games, watching them play, it brought so much love of the game for me.”
Likewise, he called himself very fortunate to have the guidance of Stein and coaches Frank and Ty Monica over the years at SCC.
“I couldn’t have done any of it without them. Coach Ty, Coach Wayne, and Coach (Frank) Monica pushed me too when I was young,” he said.
His senior year marked the 18th and final consecutive year an Authement suited up for St. Charles.
Authement made sure the family name went out with a bang.
In his final baseball game, SCC’s 9-1 victory over Menard to secure the Division III state baseball crown, he notched three hits and three RBIs as the Comets’ leadoff hitter.
That capped a playoff run where he went 13-for-24 at the plate, good for a scorching batting average of .542. On the season, he was named District Player of the Year and was an All-State first team selection.
Nobody would have scoffed at three championship wins in two years to be sure, but Authement said he, his teammates and his coaches were determined to nail down another baseball title, even when things were getting tough.
“We weren’t playing our best baseball at all late in the season,” Authement said. “We knew if we kept playing like that, we may not win a playoff game at all. We changed it around and it had to start in practice. Every morning, we got to work … we started to find our rhythm.”
He added that winning never gets old.
“(Returning to school after a championship win) was awesome. Walking into the hallway and getting the congratulations. It’s something we’ve talked about doing since we were young, in middle school … and in the end, we did everything we wanted.”
Be the first to comment