SMSH’s Luke is still a gunner at heart

Published 12:30 am Wednesday, November 21, 2018

ST. MARTINVILLE — Noah Luke is still a special team gunner at heart.

The St. Martinville junior made plenty of big plays in the team’s second-round playoff win last week, including a big hit Belle Chasse quarterback Jordan Mariana. Yet, the highlight for the 6-foot-1, 165-pound junior was not a play he made as a starting linebacker in the Tigers’ 4-2-5 defense. Instead it was a big hit he made as a member of SMSH’s kickoff team in the first half when he laid the wood on the return man.

“That was my favorite play,” Luke said. “Everybody got excited about it and it pumped me up.”

Luke and SMSH (12-0) will host Leesville (12-0) in the Class 4A quarterfinals on Friday.

It is not difficult to understand why Luke still loves playing special teams — because being a member of the unit provides him with a boost.

“It helps gives me strength,” Luke said. “People try to hit you on special teams so you got to stay up and keep running and get down there and get a big hit. If I don’t get that big hit then that just amps me up even more when I go out on defense.”

“That is just the type of kid he is,” SMSH head coach Vince DeRouen said. “Anything you ask him to do he is going to do it. He wasn’t a starter in the beginning of the season but he didn’t pout. He just kept continuing to work and you see how he has improved week to week. He is definitely one of our better players on defense.”

Luke has been a key member of the defense for the past two seasons but primarily as a backup linebacker utilized on passing downs. Then in the SMSH’s District 5-4A opener at Livonia, Luke was inserted into the starter’s role during the game and has remained there ever since.

“He’s always been in the rotation,” DeRouen said. “But we had some injuries and he just kept getting more reps, he kept improving and kept showing what he could do for us. So we just made him a full-time starter.”

That first game as a starter the following week against Cecilia, Luke admitted that he may have been a little overhyped. 

“It was very exciting,” Luke said. “I got so hyped up about it. I just had to go out there and do what I needed to do.”

Despite being a starter now for six games, that nervousness though still hasn’t left Luke when he takes the field as a starter on the Tigers defense.

“I am nervous in the beginning man,” Luke said. “I ain’t going to lie. I usually start off the games bad but by the second quarter I get better and better and start making plays.”

For Luke, there is a reason why he strives to keep making more and more plays — it is the reason why he spent this past summer working at getting faster and stronger.

“I love being part of this team,” Luke said. “It gives you a great feeling to be part of a season like this and to do it with these guys on this team.

“I am doing this for my aunt that passed away a few years ago, I am doing it for KJ (Eaglin) and I am doing this for my family,” Luke added. “I am just trying to get a scholarship and be able to go to college.”