Senior Charles Robertson (8) will provide a creative spark on offense and shore up the secondary on defense. 

There’s nowhere for the West St. Mary football team to go except up this year.

In 2022, the Wolfpack went 0-10, going scoreless in five games and finishing the season with a combined score of 448-32. The following year, West St. Mary showed some improvement, narrowly defeating a Delcambre squad that would go winless that season by a score of 14-8.

This year, the team is looking to bounce back in a big way. With a change in leadership comes a change in focus and priorities, something head coach Kendall Mouton said will pay off when the team takes the field this season.

“We’re going to be holding everybody accountable,” said Mouton. “We’re going to hold them accountable to coming to workouts, lifting, running and doing the things they need to prepare for the upcoming season.”

That accountability extends beyond just athletic talent. For Mouton, the team can’t shy away from their poor performances in recent years, so he chose to turn it into motivation instead.

“We wrote the senior class’s win-loss record on the board,” Mouton explained. “Their freshman year they went 3-7, 0-10 in their sophomore year and 1-9 last year, so it isn’t a secret. We are advertising it to ourselves that we haven’t had much success. We want to get that turned around.”

To make the transition into a winning program, Mouton will rely heavily on his dozen-man senior class and other experienced players to help kickstart the program in the right direction. One of the players who have stepped up is defensive lineman Dominick Jackson.

“We have a few guys who are showing leadership abilities,” Mouton said. “Dominick Jackson is a guy that I call a “TED”, there every day. He hasn’t missed a single workout or team activity. If I’m at the school doing something with football, he’s there.”

With several returning starters, key positions on both sides of the ball will be filled by players who can put in big performances in important games. While the quarterback position hasn’t been officially filled just yet, Mouton said he knows who would line up under center if the season started now.

“Right now, Tyshon Jackson is going to be the quarterback,” he said. “There will be another opportunity as we go into fall camp for guys across the board to compete for starting positions. We’re going into our last phase before the season and competition is something that we believe in. I’m going to give guys the opportunity to prove to me and their teammates that they deserve to start.”

On the defensive side of the ball, several returning starters have already stood head and shoulders above their peers, both as leaders and as playmakers.

“I’m expecting Dominick Jackson to have a good season as a defensive lineman,” Mouton said. “Charles Robertson, a linebacker-slash-DB, is going to have a big year as well. Jose Martinez should also do well for us at linebacker. J’Kaylon Carter led the team in interceptions last season, so we expect him to do even better on defense.”

The Wolfpack offense will retain the spread, something Mouton said was partly his preference and partly a necessity. As a defensive specialist, Mouton will be calling his on defense to make sure the West St. Mary team makes each opponent work hard for every yard.

West St. Mary will face tests early in the season, hitting the road to battle Berchmans Academy in Week 1 before hosting Centerville in the season’s home opener.

The schedule, which was created by Mouton’s predecessor, features several playoff-caliber opponents and a grueling District 8-2A schedule, but he isn’t going to back away from any competition this season.

“I’ll play anybody, anywhere,” he said. “Outside of two teams, they’re all playoff teams. It’s a tough schedule. It’s not the toughest schedule, but it isn’t a cake walk either. I feel good about the schedule and I respect every opponent, so we just have to prepare and make sure that we are in the right position mentally to go out there and compete.”

The non-district schedule ends in Week 5, with a five-game district series kicking off in Week 6. For Mouton, District 8-2A play is some of the toughest in the state.

“I always say that our district is like the SEC of 2A,” he joked. “Everybody is tough. We better have it on our minds to be ready to play. Having a home game helps, but with the level of competition in our district, if your mindset isn’t right, you’re not going to get it done.”

Mouton said he has identified three keys to success for the program, and has been working hard to instill them in his players since his first meeting with the team.

“There were three things that I talked to the guys about in my first team meeting: accountability, mindset and leadership,” Mouton said. “I feel like if we hold ourselves accountable, with the right mindset and the right leaders week in and week out, we’ll be in a position to have success. We have to bring it. It’s all about us, it’s not about the guys on our schedule.”

Several new faces will grace the sidelines this season. Former head coach Dwight Fage’s departure to New Iberia Senior High left spaces in the coaching staff for Mouton to fill, but talented replacements have moved in.

“We retained three on our coaching staff,” Mouton said. “We’re bringing in former player Treviyon Biggles and Joseph Thomas, a big man in the community who has played Division 1 football and had some time in the NFL. I have a couple of other guys that I’m trying to get on board, but right now we are going to enter the season with five or six coaches.”

West St. Mary Wolfpack 2024 schedule

Jamboree -St. Mary Parish Jamboree vs Patterson, 8/30/24

Week 1 – Berchmans Academy , 9/6

Week 2 – Centerville , 9/13

Week 3 – Thrive Academy , 9/20

Week 4 – Jefferson Rise Charter, 9/27

Week 5 – Jeanerette, 10/4

Week 6 – Houma Christian*, 10/10

Week 7 – Franklin*, 10/18

Week 8 – Delcambre *, 10/25

Week 9 – Catholic High*, 11/1

Week 10 – Loreauville*, 11/8

* – District 7-2A Opponent

BOLD – Home