We have all heard our parents and grandparents reminisce about the good old days and about how things were so much better in the past.
Now as I get older I start to talk a little about things of the past also, but when it comes down to covering football in the River Parish area I can truthfully say that we are living in the ‘Golden Era’ of football in our area.
Destrehan High School, led by head football coach Stephen Robicheaux and his excellent staff, engineered a perfect 15-0 season and their first state football championship since 1973 this past weekend with a 41-21 victory over the defending 5-A champions Acadiana High School.
Robicheaux had a very talented squad, one in which has two players already committed to LSU in quarterback Jordan Jefferson and wide receiver Tim Molton, along with another very highly recruited football performer in halfback/defensive back Jerico Nelson on the squad.
Along with Molton, Jefferson and Nelson, the Wildcats have a couple of other standout performers in wide receiver Damaris Johnson, who was named Destrehan’s Outstanding Player after scoring two touchdowns and accounting for 176 all-purpose yards in the title victory over Acadiana and linebacker Chris Richard, who has been a tackling-machine for the Wildcats, who will attract plenty of college recruiters for their services.
Five major college players on one team says a lot for the talent in the St. Charles area when you consider the small piece of the world we live in.
But, the five star performers will not be alone when it comes down to being recruited to play college football.
Hahnville High School, led by head coach Lou Valdin, has also been a major player for the state title run each and every year under his direction and he has two major college recruits also in wide receiver LaRon Byrd and defensive lineman Nathan Lewis.
Just consider what we have all seen in this area over just the past few seasons on the football field in the River Parish.
Ed Reed, who was a star performer for Destrehan High School in the late 1990’s, has developed into one of the elite football players in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens starring at the safety position.
Reed was a first round draft choice of the Ravens back in 2002 after having a stellar college career at the University of Miami (Fla.).
One year later punter Mike Scifres, another former Wildcat standout, hit the NFL scene and was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the fifth round.
The strong-legged punter has developed into one of the top kickers in all of pro football and he currently ranks third in the AFC with an average of 46.2 yards per punt.
Right down the road from Destrehan the Landry brothers, Dawan and LaRon, were also making names for themselves on the football field for Hahnville High School.
Dawan Landry became the first player in the history of Hahnville High School to be selected in the NFL draft after having a stellar college career at Georgia Tech.
The fifth round NFL draft choice of the Baltimore Ravens quickly made a name for himself in the big leagues and he has started for one of the top defensive clubs in the NFL for the past two seasons.
Dawan’s brother, LaRon, also established himself as one of the top football players in the country at Hahnville and later on at LSU where he earned All-SEC and All-American honors.
The hard-hitting safety became the sixth overall pick in the first round of the 2007 NFL draft by the Washington Redskins and he also quickly earned a starting berth in the Redskins secondary as a rookie.
Three other Tiger football players have taken their talents to the college ranks and performed at a very high level.
Southern Illinois’ Craig Turner, who was a fullback at Hahnville High School, has developed into one of the nation’s elite punt and kickoff return men.
Last week Turner, who also plays cornerback was named to the Gateway Conference 1st team lineup after averaging 11.5 yards per runback on punts and 29.1 yards per average on kickoffs as a senior.
He returned a kickoff 88 yards for a score in Southern Illinois’ tough 20-17 loss to Delaware in the Football Conference Subdivision semifinal game this past weekend.
Former Hahnville running back Darius Reynaud has also made quite a name for himself at West Virginia. Playing on one of the nation’s top offenses Reynaud has excelled at the wide receiver position and he led the Mountaineers in receptions as a senior with 59 for 691 yards, an average of 11.7 yards per catch and 11 touchdowns.
He also returned 8 kickoffs for an average of 26.4 yards per runback and was named to the 2nd team All Big-East Conference squad.
Both players will have a shot to play in the NFL in 2008 and they could well be joined in the future by another former Tiger in Southern University quarterback Bryant Lee. The sophomore quarterback threw for 2,326 yards in 2007 while completing 65.7 percent of his passes to go along with 23 touchdowns and just 4 interceptions.
You also have to consider the potential of another host of players in college from this area in cornerback Joshua Victorian (Destrehan) as a freshman for Louisiana Tech this season, redshirt freshman defensive end Kentrell Lockett (Hahnville) at Ole Miss, Georgia Tech junior defensive tackle Darryl Richard (Destrehan) and redshirt freshman cornerback Jai Eugene (Destrehan) at LSU.
And how about St. Charles Catholic High School halfback Tyrell Fenroy, who was named to the 1st team All-Sun Belt Conference squad for 2007.
The 5-8 ¾, 190-pound running back is the first player in the history of the Sun Belt Conference to rush for over 1,000 yards in three consecutive seasons.
We are indeed living in the “Golden Era” of River Parish football.
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