A Loreauville defender intercepts a pass against Northside

The Loreauville High football team hosted a Spring scrimmage against Northside on Wednesday.

The Tigers, who went 10-0 last season and picked up the District 7-2A championship, lost quite a few seniors and will need to work hard to replace the talent that departed.

“We knew coming in that we had a ton of work to do on our back end on defense,” said head coach Terry Martin. “We lost two all-state players, two all-district players, and a couple of all-district outside backs so we knew that we were going to struggle out there. Then, you turn around and we have to replace those two on offense, two of our better linemen who were four-year starters. I think that we have a few guys that can take over those spots, but it’s going to be difficult to replace that explosiveness.”

With so many seniors departing the program, Martin wanted to use the Spring scrimmage to test new plays and formations against real competition.

“Going into spring, we needed to see if we could run that ball a bit,” he said. “I haven’t run the I (formation) since way back when I was at Cecilia, but I think we have a kid who is going to be a pretty good running back in Evan Simon. Some of the stuff that we were running today, had that been a real game, we would have run it all night long. One of the things about the Spring is that we try new things. There may be a few plays that the people in the stands are asking ‘why won’t they keep doing it,’ and we would but there’s some stuff that we wanted to see.”

The scrimmage went well overall, but there were a few growing pains with the team.

“One of (Northside’s) touchdowns, our kid’s helmet came off so they put him out of the game and he didn’t tell anybody,” Martin explained. “We only had ten guys so they just threw it up to the endzone. Little things like that make you realize the things you need to work on with those young guys. We had one guy with a bump, but I think overall, we came out healthy and that’s always the big concern in the Spring. Find out who can play a little bit and come out healthy.”

Junior Evan Simon, who will be a senior when the season begins, is one of the most experienced players remaining on the Tiger’s roster. Martin said that Simon will be relied upon as an athlete and as a leader.

“Without a doubt, he’s going to be a leader this season,” Martin said. “He’s a really humble kid and a really hard worker. Going into last year, we really expected Ethan (Evan’s brother) to be the better of the two, but towards the year Evan really came on. Last year when we played Ascension for the district championship, he had four touchdowns in that game, so we knew that we had something pretty special with him. I’m really excited about what he can do. He’s paid his dues, he works hard, and I think he’s going to be a great leader.”

Loreauville’s opponent, Northside High School, also looked good during the scrimmage. Despite giving up a few encroachment penalties, the Northside team proved to be a good matchup for the Tigers. Martin said that he has a history with Northside, adding that facing tough opponents in the Spring gives his coaching staff a better idea of what they need to focus on.

“I’ve got a long history with them, all the way since I was an assistant coach at Breaux Bridge,” he said. “They’re always going to be a good team, he’s going through a downturn with his numbers, but you can see how good some of those guys are. In a scrimmage, I like to play good people, because if you get your butt kicked then you know what you need to work on and it doesn’t count on your record. I knew that they’d have some good athletes, they run well and have some decent size.”