By: RHETT MANUEL
Sports Editor
VILLE PLATTE – By all measures and accounts, Sacred Heart football is a process-based program.
It’s all work, all the time. The coach staff is a big believer in getting back what you put in.
It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for the Trojans this year despite its 5-2 record. Sacred Heart has been a team overrun by injuries while playing a schedule designed specifically to push the team to its limits.
The breaking point perhaps should’ve been two weeks ago when Catholic-Pointe Coupee went into Soileau-Landry Field and overrun the Trojans by a 42-14 margin.
It was also the game where the Trojans lost junior Landon LeBlanc, the area’s leading receiver and a crucial part of Sacred Heart’s offensive and defensive scheme, to a torn ACL injury.
Rather than folding, Sacred Heart responded with a 30-17 win over St. Ed’s last week in which the score didn’t indicate exactly how well the Trojans played in that game.
Sacred Heart was fully locked in against St. Ed’s, rolling up nearly 400 yards of offense while holding the Blue Jays under 200 total yards and its leading rusher under 60 rushing yards.
The positive momentum of that game is the type Sacred Heart hopes to carry into this week’s District 6-1A matchup with Westminster Christian.
Remember, the Trojans are all about the work, and it didn’t let up even after the big rivalry win.
“We just got back to work Monday,” Sacred Heart head coach Josh Harper said. “We worked on the things that were successful and staying the course. We knew the schedule was tough; we knew we’d struggle. We knew the adversity we’d face would help us in district.
“We’re just trying to continue the momentum of last week.”
Coming into Soileau-Landry this Friday is a Westminster team that, like Sacred Heart, has battled the injury bug throughout the season.
“They do some good things,” Harper said. “They have a bunch of guys out for the season, so they’re in a boat like us. But (Westminster coach Travis Blaize) does a good job with what they do.”
What Westminster does is unlike anything they’ve seen on their schedule this year.
“They throw a lot of formations at you,” Harper said. “They have a good screen game. You’ve got to play focused. It’s different we’ve seen the past four weeks. We’ve got to get our guys playing and reading in a different way than they have. It’s going to be tough on our defense. But our defense has been solid all year.”
Sacred Heart may be finding its run game at the right time of the year. The Trojans ran for 229 yards last year and are getting senior running back Blake Hebert back this week.
They will, however, be without senior Briggs Ardoin and LeBlanc.
However, Harper expects Hebert to be unlimited in his possibilities this week.
“He’s 100 percent, so we’re going to feed him the rock,” Harper said.
June 20, 2026
