STEPHENSVILLE — ’Tis the season when high school state championships are decided, a time to step up your game on the field, the court or the water.

Hunter Neuville of Loreauville and Avery Derouen of New Iberia, both seniors at Highland Baptist Christian School, did just that this past weekend to win the two-day Louisiana High School B.A.S.S. Nation State Championship.

Neuville, who recently won the Co-Angler Division of the B.A.S.S. Nation Central Regional Championship at Milford Lake in Kansas, and Derouen topped a 107-boat field that fished Saturday and Sunday out of Doiron’s Landing. They traveled far to fish an area they know in the Atchafalaya Basin, which was rising and considered unfishably high by many in the Teche Area.

The HBCS Fishing Team’s state champions, who led wire-to-wire, each won a Shimano rod-and-reel combination, $500 scholarship, handsome plaque and the distinction of being the best in the Sportsman’s Paradise.

Tony Neuville, 54, a machinist at Neuville Machine Shop who has captained his son and high school bass tournament partner four years, drove the family’s Triton fiberglass bass boat powered by a 200-h.p. Mercury. His was the voice of reason during the two-day event, particularly the pressure-packed second day on the water.

“I gave them encouragement. I said, ‘You never know, it might be slow for everybody today. A lot could happen,’” Tony Neuville said.

His son and Derouen led after Day 1 with 17.20 pounds. They caught 25 keepers. The 20 keepers they boated Sunday were smaller on the average and weighed 11.73 pounds.

Hunter Neuville admitted he was “very nervous” at the final weigh-in, which was run by Louisiana High School B.A.S.S. Nation Youth Director Tommy Abbott and LHS B.A.S.S. Nation board member and assistant Jim Breaux.

“I knew it was going to be close and it was,” he said.

His father said, “Yeah, we were all biting at the nails.”

While other teams weighed, the Neuvilles and Derouen tried to keep up with the numbers preceding and, most importantly, following the decimal flashing on the digital scale.

Vandebilt Catholic High School’s Roman Robichaux and Dylan Folse, the first-day’s second-place team, slipped from their solid 15.75-pound opening bag and had a light limit Sunday for 10.81 pounds. However, East Baton Rouge Bassmasters Jordan Sylvester and McVay Stockwell added 14.96 pounds to their first-day limit of 13.66 pounds.

“We were trying to do the math,” Tony Neuville said.

“When they announced them (Sylvester and Stockwell) for second place, we knew we had it. I had tears in my eyes. I was proud of them. They worked very hard for the tournament,” he said about his state title-winning two-man team from HBCS.

The HBCS Bears finished a fraction of an ounce, just a few drops of fish slime, ahead of East Baton Rouge Bassmasters, 28.93 to 28.62. Vandebilt Catholic fell to sixth with 26.56.

The winners qualified for the high school national tournament in July at Chickamauga Lake in Tennessee.

Hunter Neuville said he wasn’t nervous going into the second and deciding day.

“Ah, I knew I had got a good lead. I was hoping the fish wouldn’t stop biting in there. Normally it’s hit and miss in there,” he said.

Where was “there?” That remains a secret.

“I ain’t telling. It’s too good of a spot. (But) a few people saw me in it. I’m sure it’s going to get around,” he said.

The artificial lure used to catch the majority of the bass also will remain nameless, he said.

Young Neuville fished several high school tournaments without his regular tournament partner. Derouen, a four-year baseball player who played left field this season for HBCS, said a few games conflicted with high school bass tournaments.

Hunter Neuville was glad Derouen was back in the boat on that tell-tale Sunday. A late catch by Derouen, the son of Ronnie and Stephanie Derouen, made the difference between winning and finishing second.

“Oh, yeah. He actually caught our last one. It culled by 3 ounces more than our smallest one,” Neuville said about the 2-pound class bass that replaced a 1-10.

“Yeah, close to the end of the tournament we had two small fish about a pound and 10 ounces. I was flipping a blue-colored Speed Craw on a cypress tree. It was swimming with it. I knew it was a good one on the hookset. Hunter got the net. It was pretty good to cull one” Derouen said.

Derouen reeled it in at approximately 1:30 p.m. Tony Neuville cranked up the Mercury at 2:15 p.m. and they got back at 3:15 p.m. for their flight’s 3:30 p.m. weigh-in at Doiron’s Landing.

That’s when the nerves started jangling for the younger Neuville.