BY CHRIS LANDRY

The Daily Iberian

LOREAUVILLE — Having been on both sides of a fierce Cecilia-Breaux Bridge rivalry, Loreauville High School head football coach Terry Martin has a unique perspective on his team’s game against rival Catholic High School scheduled for Friday in New Iberia.

Martin played football at Cecilia High School, then did his student teaching at Breaux Bridge High School, eventually joining the coaching staff at his alma mater’s closest rival, much to the shock of many in his hometown.

More than a decade as an assistant at BBHS under Mike Mowad was followed by his first head coaching job, this time back at his alma mater, where he spent 12 seasons before moving back to Breaux Bridge for two years. Martin took the suddenly-open LHS job this summer, moving to the town where he’s lived for more than a decade to be closer to his family. Martin said he met his wife Jaime, who was named principal at Loreauville Elementary School earlier this year, when she was a young teacher at BBHS.

“I’m one of the few guys who’s experienced both sides of that (Breaux Bridge-Cecilia rivalry),” Martin said. “There’s a lot of good people on both sides of these things, but when you’re playing football, a lot of people get really caught up in (the rivalry).”

He learned just how much of a rivalry the Loreauville-Catholic High game can be while he was still coaching at Cecilia, which played in Catholic High’s district for a couple of years. After beating the Panthers one year, he said, someone shook his hand at church in Loreauville and thanked him for “what you did to Big Red.” Martin didn’t recognize the man, and didn’t even understand the Big Red reference at the time, until his wife told him he was being congratulated for the win over Catholic High by someone who’d probably never met him.

But this year’s game between the Tigers and Panthers doesn’t seem to have the heat that it has in many seasons past, Martin said. 

That may be because LHS is struggling at 0-6 and Catholic High, the defending Division III state champion, is 5-1 and rolling through its district opponents by an average score of 63-16 through two games.

“I have not seen that (intensity from fans) at all and that kind of worries me,” Martin said. 

With the Cecilia-Breaux Bridge rivalry people really get crazy, and it’s the adults (rather than the players). The kids are fine but they go home and hear about it. You can go 1-9 but you have to have that win against your rival.”

Nevertheless, Martin sees this week as a rivalry game, and he always looks forward to those games.

“Regardless of how we’re not supposed to have a chance, we’re going to go out and give it our best shot,” he said.

One of the wrinkles to this year’s game is that Martin and CHS coach Brent Indest are good friends who have exchanged offensive ideas for years. He’s also known CHS assistant coach Craig Brodie, a former head coach himself at CHS, Westgate and Berwick High, for a long time.

The Tigers are again facing lineup changes because of injuries and roster limitations with fewer than 30 players. The offensive line will feature its seventh lineup in seven weeks.

“We have some good backs but we have to have a group that knows how to block,” Martin said. 

“Our offensive line has not been the same one week.”

Because of that, Martin is looking for offensive consistency and overall improvement from his team.

“We’re not throwing a lot and we’re getting scored on a lot,” Martin said. “We’ve improved on turnovers.”

Whereas before the Tigers would move the ball, then turn it over in the red zone, this past week they moved it only to stall because of mistakes like bad snaps. The good thing is those mistakes didn’t result in turnovers. However, it limited the scoring anyway.

“I’d like to see us get a few good drives going,” Martin said. 

“A lot of teams have playmakers who can score from anywhere. We lost our best receiver in week one, then we lose (quarterback) Zy (Alexander in week two), and all of a sudden we don’t have those playmakers. Even if you look at the NFL, it’s hard to get a 12-15 play scoring drive.”

The lack of depth is hurting the Tigers also because even if the team puts together a long drive, those same players have to go right back out on the field to play defense. That limits their chances not only to get rest but also to go over plays and get a little coaching on what to prepare for on the next series.

Getting more players out for next season and putting them through a good conditioning program are two of Martin’s priorities for the offseason. 

For now, he’s looking to the next game for some improvement.

“I’m looking forward to it this week,” he said. “I’m hoping the kids are, too.”