Highly qualified

In a year where time needed to get a team ready to play almost instantaneously, having a number of returning players with a ton of game experience is a blessing.
For Sacred Heart Trojan head coach Josh Harper, the blessings are bountiful this season.
The Trojans, a 5-5 playoff team a year ago, definitely come in highly qualified to make some noise this football season, as they return nine starters on the offensive side of the ball and eight on the defensive side of the ball.
“I feel really good going into this season,” stated Harper. “I am amazed just how fast they have come in and retained what we have done. It gives us a really good chance to add to what our base is. But, we also have some real good battles going on at key positions, especially at quarterback. We have some younger guys that have stepped up in practice that are looking to take spots or get some playing time.”
Offensively, Sacred Heart will try to put to good use their talented skill players. This season, the Trojans look to spread things, getting into more four and even five wide receiver formations.
But, according to Harper, don’t let the change in formation fool you.
“I think with the personnel that we have and from what I have been seeing we like the spread look,” said Harper. “But, we are still going to be a run heavy team. We ran some of our spread package last year. I feel we can still be a running football team out of this set. I just want the ability to spread the ball around to our athletes a little more.”
The biggest battle going on for Sacred Heart will be at the quarterback position. According to Harper, three guys have a chance to fill that role, including returners Gabe Fontenot, Ethan Karonika, and Sam Houston High School transfer Sam Ardoin. Fontenot was a first team all-district pick as an athlete.
“I don’t know if there has been a time in Sacred Heart’s history where we’ve had three quarterbacks that can all throw the ball and all look like quarterbacks,” commented Harper. “We planned to use the scrimmage to try and separate them. I just know that all three will play somewhere on the offense if they are not behind the center.”
Regardless of who gets the nod at quarterback, the Trojans will most definitely have the talent to run their spread offense and still run the football. Coming back from a second team all-parish season, running back Alex McElwee is healthy and ready to run.
Everyone knows, the line is the key to any successful offense, and the Trojans have four returners, including first team All-Parish selection Landry Lafleur and second team All-Parish choice CJ Boudreaux.
“We have changed the blocking scheme to make it easier on the guys up front, and it seems to have helped because I can see them moving faster because they are not having to think as much,” stated Harper. “We have some big kids up front for 1A football, and they truly work hard every day to get better.”
Defensively, the Trojans are ripe for a repeat of last season’s success. In 2019, Sacred Heart held opponents to right at three touchdowns a game. In the five wins, the Trojans held opponents to 8.5 points per game.
“Right now our defense looks really good,” said Harper. “We have three of the most impressive linebackers I have seen in a while. Gabe Fontenot and Matthew Fontenot both have returning experience, and Jay Earles had not played in a while but has shown a lot in practice. In our 3-3-5 scheme, those guys have to be really on top of their game.”
The secondary of the Trojans will impress once again, as all four defensive backs return. Outside of McElwee and Karonika, Spencer Darbonne and Noah Soileau will help anchor the back end of the defense.
As far as special teams goes, Harper and the coaching staff have not yet found a replacement for placekicker Sam Hollier.
“Special teams has been one of the biggest concerns for us this season,” said Harper. “We are working on it every day at practice. Special teams is big, its one-third of the game, so we want to make sure we have that down before the season begins. Not having a jamboree to practice it really hurts.”
With the time frame for the start of the season not known until just a few weeks ago, Harper and his coaching staff are hopeful that the experience he has on his squad this season will help them get off to a good start.
“Last year, we opened up with some new guys in the starting line-up and it wasn’t until week four or five that we started to gel as a team,” commented Harper. “We do not have that kind of time this year. We go from a scrimmage right into the first game. We are going to have to get out of the gates quickly if we want to be as successful as I think we can be this coming season.”