Last year, the Loreauville High School Tigers did something that very few people ever expected, going 10-0 and securing their first outright district 7/2A championship in over a decade.

Following the departure of several 4-year starters last season, the Tigers have an exciting year ahead of them.

Head coach Terry Martin is hesitant to describe this season as a rebuilding year, but does admit that his defense took a hit with so many departures.

“I guess in a way (it’s a rebuilding year), especially on defense where we lost our entire back end,” Martin explained. “Calep and Collin (Jacob) are big losses, and also Jahari Williams who was almost a 4-year starter. We also lost Nicholas Deal, who I wish would’ve played 4 years for us but only ended up playing one year but he did a hell of a job for us and led the team in interceptions.”

It isn’t just his defensive backs that need to be replaced. Martin also lost two linebackers, further reducing the experience he can rely on going into the new season.

“We lost 2 outside backers as well, so we’re starting brand new and really inexperienced,” he said. “That first 7-on-7 that we did, we were pretty worried when we came out of that one. It was just mental errors and it’s just an inexperience thing. I think that, eventually, we’ll be okay but early on we’re going to have to do well up front.”

Things are looking much better on offense, where the Tigers are returning several key players from last season.

“On offense, we lost two linemen who were both 4-year starters on both sides of the ball, but we have backs that are coming back that are really good and our running back is going to have a chance to be decent,” Martin said. “If anything, we probably have a few more tight ends than receivers, so we’ll probably run more stuff with two tight ends to balance people out.”

Trevor Dooley is expected to be the starting quarterback for the Tigers. The five-foot eight-inch junior spent last season working closely with starting quarterback Calep Jacob, and will offer the Tigers the same type of dual threat option as last season.

“I think that we’ll be able to run the ball, especially early on,” Martin said. “We’re still going to do a lot of the stuff that we did with Calep. Trevor is capable of doing all of that and he has good speed too. When we put him on the clock, he isn’t that far behind where Calep was. I would think, just because we’re so young on defense, we’ll probably run the ball a little more early on and try to control the clock. I don’t know if rebuilding is the term that I would use. Maybe defensively, but hopefully we aren’t too far off.”

In addition to a returning quarterback, the Tigers will also have a familiar face running the ball. Evan Simon, who ended last season as one of Loreauville’s top players, has been working hard all summer to improve his fitness and leadership skills. He will also be putting in a shift as a safety this season, where his experience will provide some much needed leadership for a new backfield.

The Tigers will face Hanson Memorial for a Fall scrimmage and Jeanerette in the Iberia Parish Jamboree before beginning the regular season with an away contest against Erath High School.